Accusations of a police cover-up have been rampant amongst netizens after Bali Police and Sanglah Hospital announced autopsy results yesterday of the Frenchman who died on Monday when resisting arrest in Canggu.
Despite a horrifying viral video of French national Amokrane Sabet lying in the street, getting fired at repeatedly by police when he’s already down, Bali Police and Sanglah Forensics have stated that it was Sabet’s own knife that mortally wounded him. Sabet had killed North Kuta Police Brigadier Anak Agung Putu Sudiarta, stabbing him eight times. But it must have been in the struggle with the police officer that Sabet’s knife got his own neck before police shots were fired, according to Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sugeng Priyanto.
Not helping these autopsy results seem any less suspect is the French Consulate General’s absence in all of this. Priyanto said police had the autopsy done without the Consulate General’s consent because of the situation’s time sensitivity. Priyanto told Indonesian media that the French Consul General is currently “on vacation in Paris” and the return date is not known at this time.
“The autopsy had to be done immediately because it could not wait for the honorable French Consul General who is on vacation in Paris. If the vacation is one month, must the waiting period for the autopsy also be one month?”, he stated, as quoted by Kompas.
“Our rules do not require permission from the French Consul General. But we still gave notice. The interests of the investigation were the priority. I received a report from the Police Chief of Badung that the honorable Consul General was on vacation in Paris and the arrival time is unknown. So, we were forced to do the autopsy immediately for the purpose of investigation,” Priyanto said.
Priyanto and Head of Sanglah Hospital’s Forensics Dr. Ida Bagus Putu Alit both told the press yesterday that Sabet’s cause of death was not from bullet injuries but from puncture wounds to the neck, which resulted in blood entering his lungs. What about all the bullets? Priyanto’s explanation for that was that there were 24 rubber bullet wounds found on Sabet’s body, but those did not directly cause his death. While police did say they switched to live ammunition when rubber bullets failed to disengage Sabet, the claim here is that the “hot lead” did not fatally wound the French man.
Things had erupted on Monday when a group of police and immigration officers went to Sabet’s home in Berawa to arrest him after multiple failed attempts to deliver him police summons. The ex-MMA fighter’s volatile and threatening behavior had been reported to police by concerned and frightened local residents and many suspected he desperately needed mental healthcare, but apparently no action was taken to help him in that sense. Meanwhile, authorities had also learned he was overstaying his visa. As police arrived to arrest Sabet, the French man came outside brandishing a knife and from there, the situation escalated to tragic proportions.
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