Four soldiers sentenced to prison in Indonesia for their involvement in the murder of several civilians

16 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced four Indonesian soldiers to prison terms for their involvement in the brutal murder of several civilians last August.

Court documents indicate that the victims had tried to buy weapons from the soldiers, but were killed due to problems between the parties to reach an agreement. Their bodies were later found mutilated and inside several sacks that were thrown into a river near the city of Timika, in the province of Papua.

The authorities have now confirmed that four of the defendants have been found guilty of premeditated murder, for which two of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment and another two to 15 and 20 years in prison, according to information from the BNN agency.

A fifth soldier was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for his involvement in the same case, while a sixth soldier died while awaiting trial. All of them were expelled from the Army.

Indonesia maintains a strong military presence in Papua, where separatist militia groups have fought for the area’s independence for decades. The Army has repeatedly faced accusations of Human Rights abuses in that region, which it has repeatedly denied.