The trial of four Indonesian soldiers accused of carrying out an acid attack on an activist who had campaigned against the expanding role of the armed forces in government has begun in a military court in Jakarta.The case has drawn national and international attention with experts describing the soldiers’ alleged actions as part of a broader pattern of repression amid growing concerns over rising military influence and democratic backsliding in Indonesia.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe trial, which began on Wednesday, centres on an attack that took place on March 12 when Andrie Yunus, a 27-year-old activist with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, was riding a motorbike in Jakarta.Two men on another motorbike threw acid at him, leaving him blind in one eye and with burns on more than 20 percent of his face and body, according to military prosecutor Mohammad Iswadi.Prosecutors have charged the four soldiers, all of whom are linked to the military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency, with premeditated assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. The agency’s chief has since stepped down, but no reason has been publicly given for the resignation.Prosecutors have alleged the suspects were motivated by anger over Yunus’s activism but said they were not acting under official orders.The United Nations has condemned the attack with High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk calling it a “cowardly act of violence” and Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor descri …
