Many Oddities, The Family of the Prison Fire Victims Report to Komnas HAM

As many as 49 families of victims of the Tangerang Class I Correctional Institution (Lapas) fire came to the Office of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).

 October 29th, 2021 09:00
 Editor: CITRA DARA VRESTI TRISNA
 Reporter: CITRA DARA VRESTI TRISNA

GenPI.co Banten – As many as 49 families of victims of the Tangerang Class I Correctional Institution (Lapas) fire came to the Office of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM). Accompanied by several Legal Aid Institutes (LBH), they complained about the fire that killed 49 inmates.

"We report the findings from the confessions of the victims' families and report the findings to Komnas HAM," said Ma'ruf Bajammal, Representative of the Class I prison fire victim Advocacy Team, Tangerang, quoted from Antara, Thursday (28/10).

The complaint is a follow-up to the report of the victim's family to the complaint post opened by several LBHs, consisting of LBH Masyarakat (LBH), LBH Jakarta, Imparsial, and LPBH NU Tangerang.

A total of nine complaints and seven complaints gave the power to request legal assistance.

Based on the testimony of the victim's family, the Advocacy Team for the Class I Tangerang Prison Fire Victims found at least seven important points from this heartbreaking tragedy.

First, there is an unclear process of identifying the bodies of the deceased victims. The victim identification process is considered unclear and transparent. Even after the victim was buried, no clear information was received by the heirs.

Second, there is the non-disclosure of the delivery of the bodies of the deceased victims. When the body was handed over, the family wanted to see it but was advised by officers not to see it.

Third, according to the victim's family, even though the family insists on seeing the body for the last time, it is still not allowed. Even the victim's coffin was only made of plywood.

In fact, there are families of victims who are forced to buy their own coffins because they think the coffins provided by the government are not suitable for the funeral of their family members.

Fourth, there is an indication of intimidation when the heirs sign the administrative letter for taking the victim's body. When going to sign the letter, the victim's family was asked to finish it as soon as possible.

"On that basis, we saw an attempt at intimidation during the signing process for the handover of the bodies," said LBH.

Fifth, there is an attempt to silence the victims' families so that they do not sue any party for the Tangerang Class I prison fire. This was confirmed by a letter that must be signed by the heirs.

Sixth, the team found that there was no continuous psychological assistance carried out by the government, in this case the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham), after the body was handed over.

The seventh point is that the giving of IDR 30,000,000 mourning money to the family is considered insufficient. (ant)