Article from Italian periodical ‘Disfare‘ about the repression in Indonesia, written by Palang Hitam. Updated corrected version: 18/3/26. We received a report that the only defendants left in Kebon Waru prison is Dena, defendants from the Gentong case and from the attack on parliament case. Adit, Rizki, Tubagus, Herdi, Reksi, Naufal. Others are already free. In the BlackBlocZone case, Komar was re-arrested, but his two co-defendants are released.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwvggANmItQ
Dark Nights/Anarchist Black Cross || In August to September 2025, widespread riots took place in Indonesia across various cities on the Archipelago. It was the largest modern social uprising in the country and it was arguably triggered by the killing of Affan Kurniawan, an online motorcycle courier, who was emblematic of many of the protestors: Marginalized, precarious workers, street people, working and underclasses. Affan was murdered by Brimob mobile brigade police in an armored vehicle, the cops ran him over in front of the crowd in Jakarta. The death happened in the context of an ongoing protest against government corruption, the rising cost of living and police brutality. The killing ignited even greater mass protests, which lead to violent clashes with police and paramilitary law enforcement. Lawmakers and politicians openly mocked the demonstrators, who were only calling attention to immediate social issues that concerned everyone, and pointed to the growing reactionary power of the ex-military regime. Since the riots, the repression has grown even harder.
Starting on August 30, 2025, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in cities including Bandung and Jakarta, demanding not only accountability and justice for Affan, but an end to the entire corrupt political-military-capitalist racket. Anarchist methods and street tactics became widespread, as did anarchist slogans and targets. The government factions, political parties, unions and students associations completely lost control of the narrative. They couldn’t control the anger on the streets and the moment of the revolt was sparked. Many government buildings, corporations, police stations and senior politicians residences were looted and/or burned down.
In retaliation, the Indonesian government, led by ex-military Prabowo, cracked down on dissent, and especially the anarchists, since it was their slogans and insurrectionary tactics which had been taken on broadly during the revolt. Over 6500 were arrested, mainly young people, as authorities rounded up and detained individuals vaguely suspected in any way of participating in the riots. For instance, many individuals were arrested merely for being in proximity to protests or for carrying a mobile phone and documenting what was happening. “Anarchist” became a shorthand slur for anyone who was accused of being against the system, but what happened is that it ignited the ideas.
To give just a few examples of “anti-anarchist” cases: a young man, Very Kurniaa Kusuma was violently arrested and detained having only been in the wrong place at the wrong time with a phone in his hand, without any real cause, other than he was in opposition to the police’s actions, and wanted to record it.
Rizky Ardiansyah (known as Riky) and Muhammad Rafli Andriansyah (referred to as Kipli) are two Indonesian anarchists who face exaggerated charges framed as severe offenses. They were accused of involvement in property destruction and the creation of incendiary devices -Molotov cocktails— these accusations are inflated and politically motivated. The underlying reality is that the charges serve as a smokescreen for the state’s efforts to criminalize resistance to authority, and delegitimize the social war against the brutal Prabowo regime.
Reports from family members indicate that both arrested comrades suffered significant physical abuse during their detention. They were beaten with canes and hoses, leaving them with visible bruises and injuries. Despite this, the two comrades did not give any false testimonies. Riky and Kipli are courageous and they are part of the new youth anarchy that is growing around the world.
Alfarisi bin Rikosen, 21 years old, was arrested in Surabaya and imprisoned in Medaeng compound. He was accused of attacking a regional government building with a Molotov during the August uprising. Alfarisi was one of 288 people detained and tortured in Surabaya, where there are also 32 accused anarchists. Alfarisi died in police custody on 30th December 2025 as a result of torture, according to the account from his family and lawyer.
From the majority of the defendants, most were arbitrarily arrested, with widespread reports of torture surfacing during detention. Reports of mistreatment indicated that many of those abducted from the streets faced severe physical abuse during interrogation, indicating a pattern of state-sponsored systematic repression. Over 600 remain detained, with over 70+ accused imprisoned anarchists, mostly on riot, property destruction and arson charges which carry 5 years. Less than half a dozen accused anarchist detainees face sentences of 20 years and above for serious destructive actions, injuries, leadership and instigation.
Details emerged of brutal treatment faced by the prisoners. Most detainees were beaten and suffocated with plastic bags, humiliated in front of each other, forced to give false testimony, sexually assaulted, burnt with cigarettes, and similar other facts we see in such cases where the security services feel they have a clear political mandate for the abuse. False testimonies were circulated by police to prisoners and those outside, as proof “such-and-such snitched” etc., as part of a coordinated campaign of misinformation.
The largest section of the imprisoned anarchists in Indonesia belong to the so-called ‘Chaos Star‘ network, which is a fabricated grouping of over 40 “individualist anarchists” and “nihilists”, which has the “leadership role” assigned to Eat (Reyhard Rumbayan), who was imprisoned for a FAI-IRF incendiary attack against a bank in solidarity with injured anarchist Luciano Tortuga in 2011. Eat and several comrades (who are hunted) are accused of being masterminds behind the social uprising. All the defendants reject the charges and accusations implicit in the “conspiracy” alleged by the police.
Eat was beaten and tortured by Densus 88 anti-terrorist unit, which is leading the case against the anarchists. Eat is also accused of being a member of Palang Hitam/ABC Indonesia. Eat became seriously ill from lack of medicine to treat his health condition (HIV+) and paralysis. From lack of evidence of the serious charges, Eat’s lawyer was able to obtain his temporary release before trial.
At the time of writing, Eat is on house arrest in Bandung, and remains under investigation facing 20 years. Eat was arrested in Makassar after the Densus 88 anti-terrorist unit used Pegasus spyware to penetrate and track his mobile phone. Eat was tracked for over a week and then arrested by 15 vehicles of Densus 88 with machine guns. It appears that the law enforcement and Densus 88 heavily mapped out and logged the online anarchist presence, using Pegasus spyware and scraping data mostly from corporate services, and then struck extensively.
Another anarchist comrade who faces a long prison sentence is Adit (Aditya Dwi Laksana). Adit was classified as dangerous because he didn’t break under torture and so the cops spread on the outside with their cybercrime division on social media that Adit was a snitch. His courts documents reveal otherwise. Adit was tortured very badly and they tried to damage his sight. He’s accused of destructive actions in Getong, Bandung, Hana Bank destruction and explosives in the Regional People’s Representative Assembly of Bandung. He’s facing over 20 years and there is heavy evidence against him according to the court documents, which met all the requirements for trial. Adit was one of a number of comrades who were already under surveillance by the Densus 88 [anti-terrorist unit] when the uprising took place. Adit is currently imprisoned in Kebon Waru prison near Bandung.
Write to the imprisoned comrades in Kebon Waru prison:
Maditya Dena (Dena)
Rizky Ardiansyah (Riky)
Rafli Andriansyah (Kipli) [error: Kipli is held at a prison in Solo, Java]
Aditya Dwi Laksana (Adit) [updated]
[name]
JI. Jakarta No.42-44,
Kebonwaru, Kec. Batununggal,
Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat
Indonesia
More anarchist prisoners in Kebon Waru:
M. Subhan Abdul Ghoni [released]
Eli Yana [released]
Muhammad Vanza Alfarizy [released]
Joy Erlando [released]
Muhammad Jalaludin [released]
Jatnika Alan Ramdhani [released]
Ariel Octa Dwiyan [released]
Angga Friansyah [released]
Putra Rizwan Annas [released]
Wanda Abdul Rahman [released]
Wawan Hermawan [released]
Reyhan Fauzan Akbar [released]
Arfa Febrianto [released]
Rizal Zhafran [released]
Muhibuddin [released]
Muhammad Zaki [released]
Arya Yudha [released]
Rifa Rahnabilla [released]
Marshall Andy Kaswara [released]
Yusuf Miraj [released]
Deni Ruhiyat [released]
Rizky Fauzi [released]
All of them were accused of assaulting police officers and committing violence in public under Articles 170 (violence in public), 214 (collective resistance), and 406 (destruction of another person’s property) of the Indonesian Criminal Code. Most of these prisoners are ordinary people who have no connection to anarchist-individualists/nihilists, victims of arbitrary arrests by the police and trials without access to their own lawyers.
Palang Hitam / ABC faces considerable difficult operating in Indonesia at this time and appeals for solidarity actions and funds to support the defendants. Please donate to the solidarity fund through Dark Nights noblogs or any long-running established ABC group.
Palang Hitam
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