State-Sponsored Torture Cases Persist in Indonesia, Police as the Main Perpetrator

According to monitoring by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), there were 66 instances of torture by state officials during the period of June 2024-May 2025.

The state-sponsored torture referred to here comprises actions fulfilling the following three elements:

1. Actions causing suffering;
2. Intended to obtain a confession or as a form of punishment or discrimination;
3. Perpetrated by, or at the instigation or with the consent of, a public official or state apparatus.

"This report documents instances of torture committed by state officials, such as members of the Indonesian National Police (Polri), Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel, and correctional facility (lapas) officers," stated Kontras in its report (June 2025).

During the period of June 2024-May 2025, torture by state officials was most frequently perpetrated by Polri members, with 36 instances.

Similar cases were also committed by TNI members (23 instances) and correctional officers (7 instances).

"These instances of torture resulted in 139 victims. Kontras's monitoring recorded 23 deaths and 116 injuries," said Kontras.

According to Kontras's findings, of the 139 victims of torture by state officials, 114 were ordinary civilians, and 25 were criminal suspects or convicts serving sentences in correctional facilities.

"This demonstrates that torture is not only experienced by perpetrators or criminal suspects, but also by ordinary civilians," they stated.

Kontras also found that this torture was most often carried out with the motive of obtaining confessions, with 41 instances. 28 of these instances were committed by Polri members, 11 by TNI personnel, and 2 by correctional officers.

Kontras compiled this data from interviews with various state institutions involved in the Cooperation for the Prevention of Torture (KuPP), other relevant state institutions through public information disclosure mechanisms, mass media reports, and verified information from social media.