In February 2023 his plane was stormed by independence fighters in West Papua who said he may never be released and threatened to kill him. Somehow, Mehrtens survived and is now a free man
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens reacting with Edison Gwijangge of Nduga regency after being released from captivity by rebels in Indonesia's restive Papua region on Saturday.New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens reacting with Edison Gwijangge of Nduga regency after being released from captivity by rebels in Indonesia's restive Papua region on Saturday.pilot landed his tiny commercial plane at Paro airfield, a runway in the isolated highlands of Indonesia’s West Papua region.
“He would have lived as his captors lived – essentially on the move. By and large they would have been staking out harsh conditions in the mountains,” he says. “In the highlands, it gets quite cold.”In response, New Zealand authorities said they were doing everything they could to secure a peaceful resolution and Mehrtens’ safe release, but the details of those delicate talks were closely guarded.and safeguard human rights.
“Today I have been freed. I am very happy that shortly I will be able to go home and meet my family,” Mehrtens told a news conference in the mining town of Timika. He then had a private reunion with his family and, after nearly 600 days, spent his first night sleeping in a bed. His health was in “remarkably good shape”, said Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister.
There is also a much larger, peaceful civil movement for independence in the region – which stems from Indonesia’s violent repression of West Papuans.
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