DILI (TOP) – Journalist and editor-in-chief of online media Oekusipost.com Raimundos Oki has been accused of violating legal secrets related to his reporting on the case of illegal detention and forced virginity testing of around 30 underage girls in 2020 in Oe-Kusi Ambeno.
CORRECTION: The Oe-Cusse District Court, not Dili District Court
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The Oe-Kusi District Court has sentenced the former American missionary to 12 prisons for pedophilia case, and at the same time the government through prosecutors mandated several local ONG and police to detain about 30 young girls’ underage for 2 weeks and then perform a forced virginity test in June 2020 in Oe-Kusi Ambeno. The results of this forced virginity test later became evidence for prosecutors to prosecute former American missionary Richard Daschbach, who was already in prison in Becora-Dili in December 2021.
See: When I opened the door the prosecutor immediately said you are not a virgin anymore
The procedure for carrying out a virginity test is suspected to be a major violation, and according to WHO and UN Human Rights that the practice of virginity testing on girls is a violation of human rights, but unfortunately, human rights activists in Timor-Leste are alleged to have kept silent about the case of forced virginity testing.
Related news: United Nations agencies call for ban on virginity testing
Richard Daschbasch has already served his sentence in Becora-Dili prison, but the victims of forced virginity tests consisting of 30 underage girls are still waiting for justice for them to this day.
According to some victims of forced virginity test that their genitals have been torn off until the blood flows by a public nurse but to this day they have not received a trial like the victims of pedophilia. These 30 underage girls, according to their statement at the Oe-Kusi Ambeno District Court, that they have never been sexually abused or raped by anyone but their genitals have been torn off until blood flows when they are forcibly tested for virginity. Do the victims of this forced virginity test still have the human right to get justice like other girls in the world, especially in Timor-Leste?
Journalist Raimundos Oki was charged with violating legal secrecy because of his coverage of the Topu-Honis case, including the case of forced virginity testing of 30 underage girls in Oe-Kusi Ambeno in 2020 which was allegedly a violation of human rights that was well-covered in Timor-Leste, especially in Oe-Kusi Ambeno.
Related story: Virginity testing is a violation of human right
Journalist Oki has exercised the right of silence while appearing before the Criminal Investigation Scientific Police (Polícia Científica de Investigação Criminal) office, Thursday 30 June 2022.
