On 23 July 2022, two police officers, Bripka SR and Bripka WL shot a man named Raymond Londok (RL) dead in Pandu Village, Bunaken District, Manado City. The police answered the call of a community resident concerned by a drunk man holding a dagger/ white object and screaming. The resident expected the police to calm down the drunken man, but allegedly the officers used excessive force and killed the victim. The police stated it was self-defence and tried to dissuade the family from reporting the victim’s death.
On 26 July 2022, the Manado Police, through the Head of Public Relations of the Manado City Police, Iptu Sumardi, said that its members fired shots because they felt threatened. Sumardi also noted that the two officers complied with the procedures in carrying out their duties. To this day, the police have not named a suspect, even though there are witnesses to the incident. The police have also refused the victim’s family report.
Chronology – Police version
On 18 August 2022, the North Sulawesi Regional Police held a press conference led by the Head of Public Relations of the North Sulawesi Police, Kombes Pol. Jules Abraham Abast. He describes the chronology as follows:
At around 10:55 pm (Central Indonesia Time), the 110/112 call centre received a call from a resident about a commotion caused by people under the influence of alcohol who were making threats using sharp weapons in Neighbourhood VII, Pandu Village, Bunaken District. Based on this information, Manado Police officers forwarded the case to the Bunaken Police, which was immediately followed up by the Head of the Bunaken Sectoral Police (Polsek) and assigned to two Bunaken police officers with the initials WL and SR.
When they arrived at the location, Bripka WL and Bripka SR saw an agitated Raymond Londok holding a sharp weapon, “badik”, a type of white iron knife. When the two officers were about to get out of the patrol car, RL threw the sharp weapon under a public transport vehicle (micro) parked in the area. After that, Bripka WL and Bripka SR approached RL intending to secure him. However, RL rebelled and fought with the officers.
Raymond Londok then ran towards the shop where he was drinking earlier while Bripka WL and Bripka SR walked towards the patrol car. However, while walking, Bripka WL saw RL coming towards them with his right hand behind his back, so both avoided it by running towards the higher ground. Then RL turned towards the patrol car and said, “I want to burn this car”, reaching into his pants pocket and saying, “Where is a match?”. RL got in the patrol car and repeatedly stomped on the gas pedal, saying, “I want to destroy this car”.
Raymond Londok left the patrol car and returned to chasing Bripka WL and Bripka SR. Several community members tried to calm RL at that time, but he continued to rebel and shout while inviting the two officers to fight. Still, the officers did not yield. Next, the neighbourhood chief and RL’s grandfather and wife persuade RL to go home. RL suddenly broke a ceramic flower vase at home and went back outside to chase the two officers while holding the sharp ceramic shards. RL chased after Bripka SR and stabbed with ceramic shards until Bripka SR fell from a high of approximately 1.10 meters.
After Bripka SR fell, Bripka WL fired a warning shot and said, “Stop”. However, RL did not stop but chased Bripka WL while stabbing him with ceramic shards. And because of the distance and urgency, Bripka WL was forced to take decisive and measured action against Raymond Londok.
Use of excessive force – family’s version
The investigation by the Manado LBH team came across a video with a duration of 1 minute 42 seconds. It shows the actions of police officers who use excessive force. The victim was in a drunken state, without holding anything in his hand. Police officer WL hit the victim until he fell, and the officers strangled the victim’s neck while the victim was lying down.
According to the family, the victim had been drinking with his friends since the afternoon at a shop near his house, and this shop is owned by the victim’s family and rented out to someone else. In a drunken state, the victim asked his neighbours to dismantle the chicken coop next to the shop. At that time, the victim was holding the white iron “badik” but not using it. After his neighbour dismantled the chicken coop, the victim asked him to go inside the house.
At that time, the neighbourhood chief passed by and saw the victim in a drunken state. Not long after, two police officers, Bripka SR and Bripka WL arrived in a patrol car. Seeing the police coming, the victim threw the “badik” he was holding under a nearby vehicle. Bripka SR, accompanied by the neighbourhood chief, took the ‘badik’ from under the car and brought it to the patrol car, while Bripka WL went straight to the victim, hitting the victim in the ribs and causing him to fall. WL then strangled the victim’s neck.
Seeing that the victim could not breathe due to strong strangulation, the victim’s grandfather Weli Liwe, 84, immediately asked WL to release him, which WL did. The victim spoke loud to the police officer and the fight continued; the officer hit RL in the ribs until he fell down. His grandfather and 38-year-old wife named Fane Warow helped him get up. He struggled and ran towards the shop.
When the victim came back from the shop and walked towards them, the two police officers backed away towards the back of the police vehicle. The victim apparently had something like a weapon in his hands. But the grandfather later said there was nothing in the hands of the victim. The victim then got into the police car; at that time, there was no collision with the police. Even the position of the two police officers was far from the victim as they were standing behind the police car.
The victim’s grandfather, his wife and the neighbourhood chief calmed the victim down and took him home. There, he was asked to lie down. Suddenly the victim got up and ran back out of the house. He found a ceramic shard, took it and chased the police officers. His wife ran after him.
The family denied the police statement that RL chased the SR Brigadier General while stabbing him with ceramic shards and making him fall from the high of approximately 1.10 meters. After Bripka SR fell, Bripka WL fired a warning shot and said “Stop”.
According to the family, Raymond Londok ran out of the house toward the police officers and SR fell, but RL did not cause the fall. There was never an incident where RL stabbed Bripka SR with ceramic shards. What happened was that knowing the victim is after them, SR walked backwards while facing the victim. Due to the steep and rocky road conditions, Bripka SR fell. RL did not go after SR Bripka but followed Bripka WL. One of the witnesses said he heard Bripka WL say “stop, don’t come any closer”. Afterwards, he heard two gunshots without a pause in between One shot was fired upwards, and the other hit the victim’s chest. According to the Police, the shooting range was about 80 cm, but according to the family and the witnesses, it was more than one meter.
The shooting incident was witnessed by the victim’s wife and their 13-year-old son. They were about 4 meters away from the victim, and his grandfather was about 15 meters away. They were in shock. The police officer forbade them to record anything, the victim was lying on the road. Approximately one hour later several police officers arrived at the scene and took the body to Bhayangkara Hospital. The victim’s family went to the hospital too. At the hospital, the family took a video of the gunshot wound to the victim’s body, right on the chest.
Alleged obstruction of justice
The family appointed LBH Manado as their legal representative on 28 July 2022. At that time, the family received information that there would be a case at the North Sulawesi Regional Police on 29 July 2022 at 2 pm. LBH Manado as a legal representative came to the Manado Regional Police at the time. LBH Manado learnt there has been a police report model A dated 24 July 2022, with the number: LP/A/1407/VIII/2022/SULUT/SPKT. This report was made by the perpetrator WL. He reported the death of the victim due to allegations against police officers and the illegal possession of sharp weapons, a “badik” and ceramic shards. Raymond Londok was accused after his death of Article 2 paragraph (1) of the Emergency Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 12 of 1951; Article 335 of the Criminal Code; Article 212 of the Criminal Code.
This case is at the investigation stage based on Investigation Order Number: 1591/VII/2022, 24 July 2022. The evidence consists of one revolver firearm, three bullets, two shells, one white iron, and ceramic shards. The police have examined 13 witnesses and one expert. During the trial, the police presented 13 witnesses at the scene and one expert. The police conveyed this expert opinion which said that the actions of the police officers were in self-defence, and because the complainant had died, he could not be prosecuted. Until now, LBH Manado has not received any information on whether this case has been closed.
The existence of the police report made by the perpetrator was used as an excuse by the Regional Police to not accept reports from the victim’s family. However, reports of perpetrators of shootings are reports related to alleged attacks on officers where the attacker (in this case the victim RL) is the reported person. In contrast, the report that the family wants to make concerns the extra-judicial killing of Raymond Londok, where the police officer is the reported person.
On 5 August 2022, at around 10.00 am, LBH Manado, together with the victim’s family, went to the North Sulawesi Regional Police to make a report regarding the murder of the victim. After submitting a complaint to the Integrated Police Service Center (SPKT), the SPKT immediately directed LBH Manado to a consulting officer. To the police officer, LBH Manado conveyed the chronology of the incident. However, they rejected the Manado LBH report. The police in charge of providing the consultation stated that the case had previously been reported to the Manado police as a Model A report. It means a report from the police with knowledge of the incident. Since there is already a Model A report, according to him, there should be no other reports. However, the statement was not accompanied by an apparent reason or legal basis.
On 12 August 2022 at around 11.00 am, LBH Manado, together with the victim’s family, returned to the North Sulawesi Regional Police to make again a report related to the murder. The police again denied the family the option to make such a report because there was a Model A report. The refusal was conveyed verbally, and when asked for official and written information regarding the counselling results that rejected the victim’s family report, the North Sulawesi Police counselling team was reluctant to provide it. That same day, LBH Manado wrote to the North Sulawesi Regional Police Head through a letter with No: 36 / SK / LBH-MDO / VII / 2022. The letter contained a request for the Regional Chief of Police to order the assigned counselling section to provide a detailed explanation regarding the legal basis and reasons for refusing the victim’s family report. However, the Regional Police did not respond to the request.
The family also questions the evidence in the form of ceramic shards. According to the family, the ceramic shards are large and not dangerous enough, especially in the hands of the victim, who was drunk and staggering. At the hospital, the victim still had the shards in his hand and only the bottom of the ceramic shards could be seen. The victim’s wife, at the request of the police, gave a statement for the police report model A from 24 July, where the victim was the reported person. The police showed her evidence in the form of blue and white ceramic shards. However, according to the victim’s wife’s statement to LBH Manado, the shape of the ceramic that was shown to her and the form of the ceramic she saw on the victim’s hand at the hospital were different. The ceramic shards shown by the police looked sharper. This could only be verified if the legal process continues. Unfortunately, the police refused to accept family reports of acts of murder or violence resulting in death.
In August 2022, LBH Manado wrote to the Indonesian National Police Headquarters in Jakarta regarding this case and reported problems at the North Sulawesi Regional Police. However, until now, there has been no response. In its release on August 15, 2022, LBH Manado urges:
- The National Police Chief to immediately remove the North Sulawesi Police Chief and lawfully process the alleged perpetrators of the murder and anyone who is proven to have worked unprofessionally, including trying to protect the perpetrators;
- The National Police Chief to form a Special Team for the settlement of alleged human rights violations committed by the Bunaken Police (Bripka WL);
- The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to research alleged extrajudicial killings of human rights violations allegedly committed by members of the Bunaken Sector Police (Polsek);
- The National Police Commission, Witness and Victim Protection Agency, and House of Representatives Commission carry out investigations, protect and ensure the legal process runs.
Detailed Case Data
name of the location: Pandu (1.560025509894026, 124.87130198844565)
administrative region: Indonesia, North Sulawesi Province, Manado City, Bunaken District, Pandu Village
total number of victims: one
period of incident: 23.07.2022
perpetrator: police
perpetrator details: Brigadiers WL and SR
Issues: extra-judicial killings
Sources: Polda Sulut : Petugas Bertindak Proporsional dalam Kasus Penembakan Raymond Londok – Kompas.id
Further HRM News:
| Number | Name, Details | Gender | Age | Group Affiliation | Violations |
| 1 | Raymond Londok | male | 39 | execution |
