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Indonesia under fire over 'farcical' abuse trial
US President Barack Obama must challenge Indonesia over its abuse and torture of Papuan civilians during his talks in Jakarta this week, human rights activists said on Monday.
The call came after an Indonesian military tribunal hearing a case of torture was described as a "farce" and a "grand deception" designed to deflect criticism ahead of Obama's arrival on Tuesday.
Top military officers had said the trial Friday in the Papuan city of Jayapura -- which is off-limits to foreign journalists -- would deal with five soldiers allegedly involved in the gruesome torture of two Papuan men in May.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had also promised "no immunity" for military torturers after a video of the incident -- in which one victim's genitals are burned with a fiery stick -- was posted online ahead of a visit to Jakarta last week by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
But despite such assurances and repeated statements from military officers, it emerged late Friday from Jayapura that the trial was about a different, less serious case of abuse which occurred in March.
The Sydney Morning Herald, which first reported the existence of the online video of the May incident, said in a report Monday that the Jayapura tribunal had "proven to be a grand deception".