An Indonesian soldier has been sentenced to life in prison for selling ammunition to pro-independence rebels in Papua New Guinea, a province in the far east of Indonesia.
The soldier, Wahyu Insyafiadi, was found guilty on Wednesday of having sold some 2,600 pieces of ammunition, including bullets, to the rebels, AFP noted. He " sullied the reputation of the Indonesian army , " said judge Muhammad Idris before a military court. A second soldier was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a third soldier to two and a half years for taking part in the sale of weapons. These sentences were imposed while Jakarta is strengthening its military deployment in the province.
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Papua is experiencing a sporadic independence rebellion against the Indonesian government, which took control of this region rich in natural resources in the 1960s, after Dutch colonization.
Protests and sometimes deadly riots broke out last year in Papua after racist attacks on Papuan students in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city. The wave of protests has also revived demands for an independence referendum. But Jakarta does not tolerate any questioning of Indonesian sovereignty over the province.
The indigenous population of Papua is Melanesian and predominantly Christian, with a tribal culture different from the rest of Indonesia where 90% of the population is Muslim.
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