New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens freed after more than 18 months in captivity in Indonesia’s Papua, foreign minister says

(CNN) — New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed after more than 18 months in captivity in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, according to a statement from Wellington’s foreign minister on Saturday.

Mehrtens spoke at a press conference in Timika, Indonesia thanking those who freed him and saying he was “very happy” to go home, according to AFP.

An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) kidnapped Mehrtens on February 7, 2023, after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga.

By holding Mehrtens, his captors hoped to press New Zealand to lobby Indonesia into allowing Papua to secede from Indonesia – a seemingly impossible demand.

“Today finally I have been freed. I am very happy that shortly I will be able to go home and meet my family,” said Mehrtens, who delivered his remarks in Indonesian.

“Thank you for everybody who helped me today, so I can get out safely in a healthy condition.”

Announcing the release, Winston Peters said in a statement: “We are pleased and relieved to confirm that Phillip Mehrtens is safe and well and has been able to talk with his family. This news must be an enormous relief for his friends and loved ones.”

Peters said his ministry, with staff in both Indonesia and Wellington, had led a “sustained whole-of-Government effort to secure Phillip Mehrtens’ release.”

The pro-independence armed fighters are led by Egianus Kogeya, a member of the TPNPB, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement. They initially threatened to kill the New Zealander unless his country heeded their secession demand.

The TPNPB is designated by the Indonesian government as a terrorist organization and has in the past taken hostages to further its cause.

Papua, a resource-rich former Dutch colony, was formally absorbed into Indonesia following a controversial referendum in 1969. Advocates of Papuan independence say that vote was neither free nor fair.

Since his capture last year, grainy proof-of-life videos have shown Mehrtens growing thinner and more unkempt. Most often he appears surrounded by fighters with guns, bows and arrows.

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