22 July 2020

Police in Indonesia have charged three recruiting agency bosses over the torture death of an Indonesian crew member found in a freezer aboard a Chinese fishing vessel [...].

It comes a week after a Chinese supervisor on the Lu Huang Yuan Yu 118 was charged with killing 20-year-old Hasan Apriadi and assaulting other Indonesian crew working on the ship.

The recruiters ran two agencies that hired Apriadi and at least nine others to work on the Chinese boat, police said.

"The three suspects have been detained and charged under human trafficking laws," said national police spokesman Awi Setiyono, adding that a search was under way for two other senior company officials still at large.

[...]

After interrogating dozens of crew members from China, Indonesia and the Philippines, police charged Chinese national Song Chuanyun with the killing.

Citing witness statements, authorities said Song had forced the victim to work despite being ill. He later allegedly tortured the Indonesian and denied him food or water for several days before he died in late June.

Song will be tried in Indonesia, while the other crew members have since been released into the custody of their respective embassies, said Riau province police spokesman Harry Golden Hart.

[...]