Verdict in Indonesia: A healthy environment is a human right
Joy and relief over the verdict (© Aliansi Sulawesi)
Haslilin und Andi Firmansyah are free! (© Aliansi Sulawesi)
Rainforest Rescue activists visiting the women of Torobulu (© Rita Glaus)
The nickel industry in Sulawesi is destroying the rainforest and local communities (© Aliansi Sulawesi)
Determined to save the rainforest: Mama Kilia (Haslilin) (© Rita Glaus)
Oct 1, 2024
On October 1, 2024, the court in Andoolo on Sulawesi acquitted Haslilin (Mama Kilia) and Andi Firmansyah from the village of Torobulu. Resistance against nickel mines is not a crime, as everyone has the human right to a healthy environment, the court ruled.
Haslilin and Andi Firmansyah are free again
The two were unjustly criminalized and awaited the court hearing for almost four months, where they were found not guilty. The prosecution had demanded an eight-month prison term. According to the court, Andi Firmansyah and Haslilin committed no crime but fought for the right to a good and healthy environment. After the verdict, they were free to go home to their families.
The acquitted activists are resisting nickel mining just 100 meters from their village, Torobulu, on Sulawesi. The company Wijaya Intan Nusantara Mining (PT WIN) is operating an open-pit mine there to extract nickel ore, leaving the houses in Torobulu covered in toxic dust laden with heavy metals. The village's water is so polluted and contaminated that people can no longer use it. The rice fields are ruined.
The village community has filed multiple complaints without success, leading the residents of Torobulu, students, and environmental defenders to protest against the pollution caused by PT WIN.
The court also took into account that PT WIN had not provided the residents of Torobulu with information regarding the mine’s environmental impact. “Therefore, it is only natural for the Torobulu community to question PT WIN's environmental impact assessment,” said presiding judge Nursinah.
Nursinah added that everyone has the right to a good and healthy life: “This is part of human rights, as is access to information, participation, and justice, guaranteed in Articles 2, 5, and 30 of Law No. 32/2009 on Environmental Protection and Management,” she explained.
Furthermore, the court held that the citizens of Torobulu did not block the excavators with unlawful intent.
Our partner, Aliansi Sulawesi, says:
“The court's conclusions and decisions are correct. The fight for the right to a good and healthy environment, saving forests and seas, is noble and not a crime. Therefore, no one advocating for the environment, including Haslilin and Andi Firmansyah, can be held criminally or civilly liable.”
After Haslilin and Firmansyah's arrest, we wrote a solidarity letter to the court
91 organizations from Indonesia and around the world signed on to the letter in support. Our partners from Aliansi Sulawesi presented the appeal to the judiciary twice:
“We demand that Haslilin and Andi Firmansyah be acquitted of all charges. Environmental defenders are not criminals. The solidarity letter showed judges that Indonesian citizens must also have a right to a healthy environment.”
Guadalupe Rodriguez and Rita Glaus from Rainforest Rescue, who visited the women of Torobulu, say:
“We’re glad and relieved that justice has prevailed.”
Together with the residents of Torobulu, we continue to demand:
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an end to the criminalization of human rights and environmental defenders
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the immediate halt to environmental destruction by nickel mining and production
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healthy ecosystems for the people of Torobulu
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the restoration of fishing rights
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the revocation of PT WIN's nickel mining permit
Rainforest Rescue visited Torobulu in November 2023
We witnessed firsthand the terrible consequences of nickel mines: Villages, fields, and forests are turning into barren landscapes. People are losing their livelihoods and suffering from massive environmental destruction and contamination. Rainforest destruction is pushing Sulawesi's wonderful wildlife to the brink of extinction.
Sulawesi holds Indonesia’s largest nickel deposits
Indeed, they are some of the largest on Earth. Nickel is an essential component for car batteries, and the increasing production of electric vehicles has resulted in a massive expansion of nickel ore extraction. The damage is being compounded by the coal-fired power plants powering the nickel industrial zones. More than a hundred smelters are already in operation, mostly run by Chinese corporations.
Many areas of Sulawesi are being sacrificed to the electric vehicle boom without regard for people, rainforests, or the climate
The case of Torobulu is just one of many. People resist, but often industry and government turn the tables and label the fight against environmental destruction as resistance to economic growth or even treason.
In Torobulu, we learned that women are leading the resistance against nickel mines. Back then, 26 women were charged. The fear of criminalization was all too present in the village. Therefore, expectations for our visit were high. The community hoped for solidarity and support.
The full solidarity letter and list of co-signing organizations can be found here.