JAKARTA, Indonesia – The official website on the tribunal, which is hearing the case of activists against Indonesia regarding the brutal 1965 mass killing in the country, is inaccessible in Indonesia.
The website http://1965tribunal.org was unavailable on Thursday, November 12, two days after the trial, which charges the state with crimes against humanity, started.
It is accessible however, through other IP addresses such as those from the US or the UK.
Using an Indonesian IP address, clicking on the link takes the netizen to a page that says, "Error 403 - Forbidden."
The page also says "in many cases (the error message) is not an indication of an actual problem with the server itself but rather a problem with the information the server has been instructed to access as a result of the request."
At least 500,000 people died in the purge across the Southeast Asian archipelago that started after then General Suharto put down a coup on October 1, 1965. (READ: 'Indonesia must do more to provide justice for the 1960s mass killing victims')
Authorities blamed the attempted coup on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
Security forces, supported by local groups, rampaged through the country massacring hundreds of thousands of people suspected of even weak links to the PKI, and jailing scores of others.
Activists continue to ask for an official apology from the tribunal but to no avail. Previous talks and panels on the same topic, the 1965 massacres, have also been canceled in Indonesia. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com