The mysterious and violent death of a civil servant inside a prison in Subang, West Java, has become national news in Indonesia following a viral social media post by his bereaved wife that includes a letter from their young children imploring President Joko Widodo for his help in bringing their father’s killer to justice.
Ade Diding Sugandi was a civil servant (PNS) in Subang who was arrested for his suspected role in a case of embezzlement and taken into custody at the Subang Police Prison on June 8 while his case was processed.
On June 11, he died from grievous injuries suffered while in the jail.
This is the letter, written by Ade’s daughter Michelle, which was shared on social media by her mother.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=146067979602273&set=pcb.146067999602271&type=3&theater
For President Jokowi,
My name is Michelle, a 2nd grade elementary school student and my older sibling is Pramudya, grade 6 elementary school in Subang.
Mr. Jokowi, my father worked for the Subang government. My father was a civil servant but now he is dead. I heard my mother received the call when my father died at the hospital because my father was beaten at the Subang Police Station until he died.
Now I have no father. Mother also always goes to the police station, she said she wants justice for father. Pak Jokowi help my mother. Thank you, Pak President.
In the caption to her Facebook post, Ade’s wife, Acu Kartini, gave her own account of what happened to her husband upon entering the prison.
https://www.facebook.com/alba.rara.5/posts/146067999602271
According to Acu, she received a call from Ade just 10 minutes after he entered the prison (from a guard’s mobile phone, he said) asking her to transfer him IDR6 million (US$413) for food for his “colleagues”, but as she did not have that much money she only sent him IDR500,000.
She said her husband kept calling and asking for more money transfers and that he sounded like he was stressed and under pressure. The next day when she visited the prison she said her husband looked like he had been beaten and was limping, but Ade said it was because of a fall and sports injury.
But when the prison guard monitoring them left, Ade told her that he had actually been brutally beaten by about 15 people inside of his cell. She asked the police that her husband be taken to a hospital for treatment but the request was denied.
On June 11, Acu received a call from the prison that her husband had been critically injured and had been taken to the hospital. She arrived at 3am and Ade succumbed to his injuries and died at 3:30am.
The post ends with Acu saying she is still fighting and asking for justice from the Subang Police and asked for the help of the National Police.
Subang Police Chief M Joni confirmed to the media that a prisoner named Ade Diding died while in police custody but denied that his men were involved in the death.
“No, our members were not involved,” Joni told Detik today.
Joni explains that Ade did complain of pain after he had been in detention in the prison for two days, at which time he was brought to a prison clinic. But he said that Ade was shown to not have any medical problems and was even able to exercise normally again after. Then, on June 11, Ade complained of pain again at which time he was brought to the Ciereng Regional General Hospital where he soon died.
According to the Subang Police chief, police had not been aware of the cause of Ade’s injuries but learned from his wife that he had been tortured by other prisoners and that they were investigating the case.
Joni said that the results of the autopsy had yet to come in (over a month after Ade’s death) but that they had now interviewed witnesses who indicated the violence against Ade had taken place “while the guards were praying”. Police have tentatively set 13 prisoners as suspects in Ade’s death while the guards that potentially allowed the violence to take place were being investigated by police internal affairs.
Human rights activist groups such as Amnesty International say that they regularly receive reports of beatings, torture and deaths in Indonesian prison, but rarely are police held accountable for violence suffered by prisoners in their care.
