Rico Sempurna Pasaribu

Rico Sempurna Pasaribu ( – 27 June 2024) was an Indonesian journalist who worked for the Medan-based Tribrata TV covering regional news in North Sumatra. In June 2024, he died alongside his wife, daughter and grandson in a house fire, shortly after reporting on allegations of gambling, prostitution and drug running by a senior figure in the Indonesian Army.

Career Pasaribu worked for Tribrata TV, an online news website based in Medan that often reported on local police activities in North Sumatra.

On 22 June 2024, Tribrata TV published an article by Pasaribu which alleged that an illegal gambling den located close to the barracks of the 125th Infantry Battalion in the Pedangmas district of Kabanjahe was operated by a corporal within the Indonesian Army.

A spokesperson for the Indonesian Army stated that local authorities had interviewed the soldier identified by Pasaribu, and that their investigation had found that he was not involved in gambling or any other illegal activities.

On 26 June, religious protests occurred outside of the 125th Battalion barracks following the report of gambling, prostitution and drug running by soldiers. Pasaribu came out of hiding to report on the protests, and subsequently returned with his family to his home in Kabanjahe, North Sumatra.

Death and investigation In the early hours of 27 June 2024, a fire started at Pasaribu's home, which also served as a shop run by his wife. Later that day, the body of Pasaribu, his wife, daughter, as well as a grandson they have been babysitting, were found in the home. One of the suspects, Bebas Ginting, was the former head of the Angkatan Muda Pemhararuan Indonesia, a youth organisation linked to Golkar, a political party that had official links with the Indonesian military during the Suharto regime.

Response Pasaribu's surviving daughter, Eva Meliani Pasaribu, whose son died in the fire, launched a public campaign calling for justice for her family.

Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian police to complete a "credible and timebound" investigation to identify anyone involved in the attack. It identified similarities between Pasaribu and the deaths of other journalists in Indonesia, including Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin in Bantul Regency in 1996, and Sander Theones in Dili in 1999.

Tempo called on the police to complete a thorough and independent investigation, and highlighted a likely link between Pasaribu's reporting on gambling in the military and his subsequent death. An editorial also raised concerns that local police appeared to be covering up the fire by suggesting it was an accident, citing gasoline and gas cylinders stored in Pasaribu's wife's shop.