JAKARTA, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Indonesian prosecutors have demanded 10 years’ jail for a Polish man accused of having links to Papuan rebels.
Jakub Fabian Skrzypski was charged in August after meeting separatist fighters in the restive region, which has seen a decades-long insurgency over independence and Papuans’ share of its lucrative mineral wealth.
Prosecutors said the globetrotting Pole made contact with rebels to in order to spread information about their armed struggle.
“Today prosecutors demanded that Jakub receive 10 years in jail,” his lawyer Latifah Anum Siregar said.
Papua shares a border with the nation of Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia.
Skrzypski faces a range of charges, including of plotting to overthrow the Indonesian government and joining an outlawed rebel group, according to the indictment.
He was accused of meeting with leaders of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) and was found with documents and video detailing the Papuan struggle for independence.
Authorities also said Skrzypski and his Indonesian co-defendant Simon Carlos Magal discussed sourcing arms from Poland.
Jakarta is deeply sensitive about its easternmost region, where sporadic fighting with central government forces has simmered for decades, and it routinely blames separatists for violence in the region.
Prosecutors on Thursday also demanded a decade in prison for Magal. — NNN-AGENCIES