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French journalists arrested in West Papua could be charged with subversion
Sydney Morning Herald - August 14, 2014
Documentary filmmaker Thomas Dandois and camera operator Valentine Bourrat have been in immigration detention in the restive province for more than a week after being caught doing journalist work on tourist visas. But police say the pair will soon be moved into the police lockup.
There is also an Australian connection, with West Papua police spokesman Sulistyo Pudjo saying the pair were taking "orders" from an Australian, "NC". This can be revealed as the Melbourne-based Nick Chesterfield, who works for independent media outlet West Papua Media.
Ms Bourrat and Mr Dandois were filming a documentary on the separatist movement in the province for the European TV channel Arte.
However, Mr Sulistyo said, "We can prove they are not journalists" because neither had an up-to-date press card. He said they had "planned to cover the exchange of bullets between [members of the armed separatist movement, the] OPM. Why would tourists do that?"
The rhetoric represents a dangerous turn for the reporters. Simply working without a journalist visa in Indonesia usually leads to swift deportation, but talk of subversion, or "makar" in Bahasa, could signal a dragged-out investigation, court case and possible imprisonment.
Foreign media access to West Papua is tightly controlled and restricted by the Indonesian government.
Adding to police suspicions, Ms Bourrat worked in 2011 for the French government in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was carrying a French government passport dated from that time.
Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, has no diplomatic relationship with Israel, which is widely regarded with hostility and suspicion. The first secretary at the French embassy in Jakarta, Thomas Biju-Duval, confirmed that Ms Bourrat had worked as a government volunteer in Tel Aviv and still carried a "service passport" from that time. "She should have given it back, but she forgot to do that," he said.
But he insisted that the pair were journalists. "We provided all the documents to the authorities in Jakarta and Jayapura, and there is no doubt about their status as journalists," Mr Biju-Duval said.
Despite Mr Sulistyo's view, Mr Biju-Duval said: "The Indonesian authorities have received and accepted that information."
Mr Sulistyo said a number of text messages on the phones of Mr Dandois and Ms Bourrat showed they were taking "orders" from Mr Chesterfield, whose independent media operation is highly critical of Indonesian activities inside West Papua. "Fortunately NC is in Australia, because if he was in Indonesia we'd arrest him," Mr Sulistyo said.
Mr Chesterfield confirmed that West Papua Media had given advice to the French journalists ahead of their trip, as his organisation did to "hundreds of journalists a year" about travelling to Papua. The advice had included information about security and story ideas.
"What we were doing is not a crime under international law, and assisting journalists is a basic element of freedom of the press," he said.
A blog post on a site favoured by Indonesian army members, militerindonesiamy.blogspot.com, suggested that Ms Bourrat was a French government agent and involved in a "transnational crime" relating to the ammunition.
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