Indonesia charges Polish man with plotting Papua coup
- Jakob Skrzypski becomes first foreigner to be charged with treason in the country
- He is accused of joining the Papua National Liberation Army and offering to help supply it weapons from his home country
Jakob Skrzypski, 39, joined the Papua National Liberation Army and offered to help it buy weapons to overthrow the Indonesian government in the restive eastern province, prosecutors told the Wamena city court on Tuesday.
Skrzypski, who faces 20 years in jail if found guilty, was forced to attend the hearing after going on hunger strike in jail in an effort to boycott the trial. His lawyer has said he will deny the charge.
Prosecutors said Skrzypski had met leaders of the Free Papua Organisation and that police had discovered documents and videos in his possession detailing the Papuan struggle for independence from Indonesian rule.
A low-level insurgency has simmered in the province, which shares a border with Papua New Guinea, ever since the former Dutch colony came under Indonesian rule in the 1960s.