Saka Mese Maluku

Saka Mese Maluku

The South Moluccan Movement

Pieter Likumahua, Alexsander Workala, and Benjamin Naene – activists from Maluku – were charged with treason and sentenced to three years in prison each on December 28, 2021. 

On 23 February 2022, the Ambon High Court rejected their appeal and upheld the guilty verdict from a lower court.

The articles on treason in the Criminal Code are so broad that they are widely used by the Indonesian government to silence critics and activists. The articles of treason in the Indonesian Criminal Code are taken from the articles of treason in the Dutch Colonial Criminal Code, which aimed to silence critics and pro-independence activists during the colonial period. Now the same article has been used by the Indonesian government to detain political activists in the Moluccas and Papua. 

The Indonesian authorities have used provisions of the Criminal Code, in particular Articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code, to try pro-independence activists in the Moluccas and Papua simply because they violated their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. peacefully practiced. Since 2007, dozens of Moluccans have been accused of ‘treason’ under Articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code. 

Amnesty International does not take a position on the political status of any province or territory in Indonesia, or any state, including calls for independence. However, Amnesty International believes that the right to freedom of expression also includes expressions of a political nature.

Source: www.s.id/aktivismaluku (Amnesty International)