Papua separatist rebels appeal to New Zealand pilot's captor to let him go after a year
ABC News
Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua region are asking for the immediate release of a New Zealand pilot who's been held hostage for almost a year
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Separatist rebels asked for the immediate release Saturday of the New Zealand pilot who's been held hostage for almost a year in Indonesia’s restive Papua region.
Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, took Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, on Feb. 7 2023.
In a statement, Sebby Sambom, spokesperson of the West Papua Liberation Army — the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement — said they have asked Kogoya to release Mehrtens on a humanitarian basis.
“Using the pilot as a guarantee for an independent Papua at a fixed price is absolutely impossible to happen,” Sambom said.
Kogoya and his troops stormed a single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro, a mountainous village of Nduga regency. Planning to use the pilot to negotiate, Kogoya has previously said they won't release Mehrtens unless Indonesia frees Papua as sovereign country.
