Police say diplomat Zetro Leonardo Purba was shot thrice as he bicycled house to his house in Lima, Peru.
Printed On 2 Sep 2025
The Peruvian authorities has supplied its condolences for the “assassination” of an Indonesian diplomat in its capital, Lima, calling the state of affairs “lamentable” and a “heinous act”.
On Tuesday, the nation’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs issued a assertion expressing its “deepest condolences and deepest condemnation” for the killing of Zetro Leonardo Purba, 40, a member of Indonesia’s diplomatic corps.
Surveillance footage launched by Peruvian police exhibits Purba bicycling house to his house on Monday night time, when an unknown assailant, sporting a helmet, approaches him close to the constructing’s entrance and shoots him twice.
After Purba fell from his bike, the gunman shot him a 3rd time earlier than fleeing on a motorbike pushed by a suspected confederate.
Purba was later declared lifeless at a Peruvian hospital. A motive for the taking pictures stays unknown.
In Tuesday’s assertion, the Peruvian Overseas Ministry confirmed an investigation was underneath option to discover these accountable. It additionally supplied assist and enhanced police safety to Indonesia’s embassy workers.
“The Ministry of Overseas Affairs will proceed to offer all of the assist and help required by the Indonesian authorities on this matter and affirms that this crime might be completely investigated,” it wrote.
Sugiono, Indonesia’s minister of overseas affairs, additionally mentioned he held a name together with his Peruvian counterpart, Elmer Schialer, to push for a rigorous investigation into the taking pictures.
“We belief Peru will guarantee the very best safety for our embassy workers, households, & residents in [the country],” Sugiono, who goes by a single identify, wrote on social media.
The top of Peru’s nationwide police, Victor Guivar, speculated on TV Peru that the assault may very well be a focused assassination to settle scores.
“Primarily based on the bodily traits we now have been capable of see on the video surveillance cameras, they’d be overseas residents,” Guivar mentioned.
However varied Indonesian officers have advised Peruvian media they doubt that evaluation, explaining that Purba had not acquired threats within the lead-up to the taking pictures.
In response to media stories, Purba had lived in Lima for about 5 months together with his spouse and youngsters on the time of his dying.
One Indonesian embassy employee, Irwan Butapierre, advised native media he blamed rampant crime within the Peruvian capital.
“Peru is an unsafe nation. He was calmly driving his bike, not anticipating any hazard,” the newspaper La Republica quoted Butapierre as saying. “I don’t know why they killed him.”
Beneath Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, homicides and extortion within the nation have risen.
An estimated 6,041 folks had been killed between January and mid-August, the very best quantity for that interval since 2017. And stories of extortion totalled 15,989 between January and July, a 28 p.c enhance over that interval in 2024.
Simply final month, Boluarte accomplished a diplomatic go to to the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, the place she and President Prabowo Subianto celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations between Peru and Indonesia.
Additionally they signed a free-trade settlement to spice up the financial ties between their two nations.