Victims of Indonesia’s Deadly Stadium Stampede Are Being Dug From Their Graves

There was heavy police presence—hundreds, by one estimate—when a man in a black T-shirt bearing the faces of two young girls entered the graveyard. The crowd watching, he walked towards a blue tent pitched over two graves, entered, and moments later, collapsed on the ground crying. 

Once he regains his composure, the man looks at the journalists surrounding him and says: “This is murder, and today, I will prove it.”

The man is Devi Athok, a 48-year-old resident of Malang City in East Java, where the cemetery is located. The graves belong to his two young daughters, aged 13 and 16, who were two victims of one of the world’s deadliest stadium disasters when a football match on Oct. 1 at Kanjuruhan Stadium turned into a night of horror as fans rioted and police fired tear gas to control the crowd. Amid clouds of the noxious fumes, a stampede ensued, killing 135 people, and injuring nearly 600 others. 

Saturday’s gathering was held to mark the first autopsy of one of the victims, which was conducted in a makeshift laboratory near the girl’s graves. Athok’s decision to exhume their bodies was not made lightly, with disturbing the dead considered highly taboo in Indonesian and Islamic culture. But for him and other families of victims, this is a desperate act in their search for justice. 

“I’ll use what happened to my daughters as a way to bring justice for all victims,” Athok told VICE World News.  

The autopsy itself was conducted in secrecy, with only a forensic and medical team allowed inside. Apart from a cursory look at his daughters’ graves, Athok wasn’t allowed to witness the procedure and waited outside with his supporters and the media. Seven hours later, when the medical team emerged, they told the media that the initial findings were confidential, and that the final result would take at least eight weeks. 

Imam Hidayat, Athok’s lawyer, told VICE World News that he hopes for an “honest and transparent autopsy report.” But questions hang over the process, and many of the families hold out scant hope for a transparent and honest inquiry.

Jumaya, a 40-year-old Malang resident who lost her teenage nephew in the stadium, said she believes the police will falsify the autopsy report. 

“I won’t let my [nephew] Revano’s body be used as an experiment by the police, because I know the result will be manipulated,” she told VICE World News at the gathering.

Astri Puchirahayu, who lost her only daughter, aged 20, in the stadium, agreed. “Why wasn’t Devi allowed to witness his own daughter’s autopsy?” the 42-year-old asked. “There’s definitely something going on there.” 

But they still discount the role of tear gas in the deaths, insisting that it was expired and therefore harmless. “When [the tear gas] expires, the level of chemical substances will decrease, and the ability [to harm] will also decrease,” Indonesian Police’s Public Relations Chief Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo said in early October, adding that it was the lack of oxygen during the crush that killed them.

An Amnesty International report, unrelated to the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster, states that expired tear gas is “dangerous” and shouldn’t be used on people, but rather destroyed in a controlled environment. Expired or not, world football governing body FIFA also places a total ban on the use of tear gas in stadiums—but in Indonesia, police use it liberally.

Athok is among the loudest of the mounting voices pushing back against this police narrative. 

“All those rumours that the victims died from lack of oxygen and were trampled upon are false,” he told VICE World News. “My daughters died from tear gas poisoning. Their eyes were bleeding and their mouths foaming.” 

Indonesia has a rich football culture of avid fan groups that, at times, have been linked to hooliganism. Games are known to spill over into violence, with fans provoking rivals, and Indonesian police regularly using a heavy-handed approach to crowd control. Consequently, clashes between police and fans have resulted in 78 deaths at football matches over the past 28 years. 

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, police officials also justified their use of tear gas as a measure to stop fans from attacking the players after Arema FC lost to Persebaya, a fierce rival whose fans were banned from the ground due to fears around crowd trouble. 

However, Dadang Hermawan, a member of Aremania Join Team—an independent fact-finding team set up by the fans of Arema FC—disputes the narrative that fans were attacking players. He told VICE World News that he hopes the autopsy results will result in more serious charges being filed against authorities. “Why did the police suddenly turn aggressive? It was straight murder, not negligence.”

Last month, the police knelt on the ground as a gesture of apology for the deaths. Tohan, a 25-year-old survivor of the disaster, told VICE World News that the people of Malang don’t believe the sincerity of the police one bit. 

“They’re gimmicky,” he said. “People of my city are losing trust in them. It’s been more than a month and we’ve seen no result. Why is [the investigation] taking so long?” 

Across Malang, the anger felt by the community can be seen on the city’s walls, with graffiti and posters accusing the police of killing fans at Kanjuruhan Stadium. At the graveyard, police stood guard surrounded by signs calling them “executioners,” while others asked, “Where is your conscience?” and “Why did you shoot at us?” 

Shafira Noor Adlina, an investigator at Federasi Kontras, a commission for missing persons and victims of violence in Indonesia, said the autopsy is critical given the police have been slow to investigate the impact of tear gas on the victims. 

“The anger is still palpable in Malang. You see banners in every corner of the streets saying ‘Usut Tuntas,’ which literally translates to ‘total investigation’,” she said. Federasi Kontras set up a fact-finding mission and a medical camp for the survivors of Kanjuruhan. 

“This is not just a one-off crime, but the latest among a series of human rights violations in Indonesia.”

Last month, Indonesian police said they would cover the costs of medical treatment for survivors until they fully recover. Survivors, however, told VICE World News that’s not happened, and that the supporters, instead, have been pooling money to help. 

One survivor, Dewi Trisnavati, who spoke to VICE World News on video call as she was still bedridden due to dislocated scapula and inflammation in the lungs, said she paid her first set of medical bills herself, while her second hospital visit was paid for by the supporters. 

“The expense coverage by the government hasn’t come yet,” said the 27-year-old, who also lost two friends at the match. 

Many, say activists, are still recovering from medical problems linked to their exposure to tear gas. One 14-year-old survivor, Rafi, showed VICE World News pictures of his bloodshot eyes after a tear gas canister exploded over his head. Today, he said he still has discomfort opening them due to inflammation. 

“The police contacted me, asking why we were so insistent on the autopsy,” he said. “They came to our house twice to stop us from requesting one.” Athok was eventually provided protection by Indonesia’s Witness and Victim Protection Agency, a government body. 

Hasto Atmojo Suroyo, the chief of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency, told VICE World News that Athok and his family have been given police protection and kept in a safehouse. “If Mr Devi wants more protection, we will provide it to him,” Suroyo said.

If more families were to decide to carry out an autopsy, he added, they will look into providing protection to them too, adding that with regards to the claims of police intimidation, they haven’t found any evidence yet.  

Police resistance to the enquiry is hardly surprising. Last week, Akmal Marhali, a member of the Joint Independent Fact Finding Team, the official body set up by Indonesian president Jokowi Widodo, told media, "if the autopsy results declare that the victim died from tear gas poison, the case will become broader and there will be more suspects." 

Wiavono, a 52-year-old resident who lost his 22-year-old daughter in the stadium, also present at Saturday’s gathering, told VICE World News he’d get an autopsy of his own daughter if it would bring those responsible to account. 

“If this can speed up the process of justice, then I’d do it,” he said.

Translations by Annisa Nurul Aziza and Reno Surya.

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