Indonesian anti-corruption investigators have launched a hunt for a powerful local official after they caught two of his aides accepting a $40,000 bribe.
Their six-month investigation led them to a farm in North Sumatra, where they made a shocking discovery: 65 men locked in two cages.
The captives, investigators found, had been imprisoned under the guise of a drug rehabilitation program and forced to work as slaves in a palm plantation and palm oil factory owned by the official, Terbit Rencana Perangin-angin, and his family.
Dozens of victims told authorities they received no treatment for their addiction.
“This was not rehab. this was a jailsaid Bambang, 31, a former captive who helped in two government investigations. “They treated us like animals.”
Investigators arrested Perangin-angin, 50, on bribery charges in January 2022, days after the cages were discovered. He was found guilty of bribery and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. The police seized the factory from him and stripped him of his elected position as regent. But he has not been charged or tried on any charges related to the caged men and has denied any knowledge of the operation.
The case highlights Indonesia’s dismal human rights record and rampant corruption at the regional level, where governors, regents and mayors are often called “little kings.”
An investigation by the North Sumatra Provincial Police found that 656 men and teenagers had been imprisoned in cages on Perangin-angin land in the decade before their arrest. They were generally detained for about 18 months before being released.
Many were tortured, whipped, burned, and sexually assaulted. Six prisoners have died, including at least three from torture, the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission says.
Although the cages were an open secret in the community, the police and local officials never intervened because Perangin-angin was seen as all-powerful in the Langkat regency.
Thirteen of some 60 men identified by the victims have been prosecuted for their role in the operation. But victims say they are frustrated by the leniency of the police and the courts. None of the defendants have faced more than a single charge; the longest sentence handed down was three years.
When Sarianto Ginting arrived at the estate for drug treatment in mid-2021, Dewa Perangin-angin, the regent’s son, questioned him, Bambang said. When Ginting said that he did not use drugs and that he only drank, Dewa Perangin-angin hit him with a piece of wood and a compressor hose, Bambang said. Despite the man’s injuries, Dewa Perangin-angin ordered Ginting to bathe in a pond and told the guards to push him away, Bambang said. The second time Ginting went down, it didn’t come up again.
Dewa Perangin-angin and another man were convicted of killing Ginting. But Dewa Perangin-angin was quietly released after serving half of his 19-month sentence. A video showed him smiling and dancing at a wedding this year.
RICHARD C. PADDOCK
THE NEW YORK TIMES
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6771029, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-06-21 20:50:07
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