REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAYAPURA -- The Immigration authorities have accused two French television journalists of violating their stay permit in the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua.
The two French journalists who visited Indonesia on tourist visas violated Article 122, letter a of the Immigration Law Number 6 of 2011 on the abuse of stay permit, Head of Immigration Division at the Papua Provincial Office of the Law and Human Rights Ministry Luki Agung Binarto stated here on Tuesday.
Therefore, the two French journalists, Thomas Charles Danbois and Valentine Bourrat, who worked for Arte TV will be placed in custody at the Papua provincial police, he remarked.
"We are still coordinating with the police to ensure that they will not be put in the same cell as the other detainees, the more so because one of them is a woman," he stated.
The two French journalists had been named as suspects in the case since August 13, 2014, he noted.
He emphasized that the French Embassy in Jakarta had prepared a team of lawyers from the Todung Mulya Lubis & Associates Law Firm to accompany them. The team of lawyers was present in the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura.
In fact, the team of lawyers had written to the Law and Human Rights Ministry in Jakarta, on August 16, seeking deferred detention of the two French journalists for various reasons, he noted.
However, the ministry had not responded to the request, he stated.
It was earlier reported that the Papua Police had interrogated the two French journalists for their alleged close relationship with a criminal armed group (KKB) in Jayawijaya, Papua.
"They are still being questioned. We have as yet not come to any conclusion (about their case)," Papua regional police command spokesman Senior Commissioner Sulistyo Pudjo stated when asked for confirmation about the issue.
Charles was arrested for holding a tourist visa but conducting activities of a journalist, such as interviewing supporters of the armed group believed to be part of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) organization headquartered around Jayawijaya.
Jayawijaya police resort chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Adolf Beay had earlier reported that Charles and his girlfriend had been arrested in an area in Wamena, Jayawijaya District, on Wednesday night (Aug 6).
In July 2013, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa had affirmed that the security situation in Papua was one of the country's major concerns due to certain elements in the region seeking global attention by attacking international figures, including journalists.
As a result, foreign journalists seeking to cover Papua must apply for a permit from the government, so that they can be offered adequate security to ensure their safety, he added.
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