URGENT: Defendants in the “Chaos Star” network case face up to 20 years in prison
After the mass revolts in August 2025, where a large section of the population rose up and attacked the state’s basic corruption and inequality, 43 anarchist comrades are imprisoned at the West Java paramilitary police compound in Bandung. There is no access for anyone but the families, and even this is minimal. The detainees have been cut off and they are being used in a mainstream media manipulation campaign by the Indonesian state. Many of the imprisoned comrades are very young. They are all accused of being part of the individualist-nihilist “Chaos Star” network, which is a fabrication created by the police for the purpose of their prosecution. The police claim that the imprisoned comrades were radicalised by ‘Leaders’ and funded by foreign anarchist organisations. The cops point to the existence of banners, flags, books, pamphlets and music, which is in the possession of the detainees, as commonly held items denotative of membership of this “Chaos Star” organisation.
Some of the comrades are accused of serious direct actions such as molotov attacks, arson, riot, property destruction, etc. Lastly some of the comrades are accused of instigation, either online, for their blogs or social medias or for their ‘prominent’ role. They are isolated in the paramilitary compound and the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Bandung has been blocked from representing them. An option is to hire a private lawyer but that would cost tens of millions (rupiah). We ask for heightened attention to this dangerous situation. Torture and abuse are being widely used on the detainees, confirmed by the families. The young comrades were injured and hurt until they gave false confessions that they were even at the demonstrations and/or part of specific organisations, as they were subjected to the brutality of the paramilitary police. This is a known fact and a reality that we have to confront. In the wake of the insurrection across Indonesia against the right-wing ex-military Prabowo Subianto, the young people and the anarchist movement has been severely repressed by the regime. Many young people have been caught up in the police assaults and regardless of their supposed “guilt” or “non-guilt”, we extend our solidarity with them, and to all those who struggle against social oppression, prisons, police and the state. Continue reading “URGENT: Update and Postal Address for the 43 “Chaos Star” Imprisoned Comrades in Bandung (Indonesia)” →
