September 9, 2025
JAKARTA – The body of Zetro Leonardo Putra, an Indonesian embassy official who was fatally shot in Peru last week, is expected to arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said, as Peruvian authorities completed the autopsy.
Pressure is mounting in Indonesia for better protection for its diplomatic staff as Peruvian investigators near the end of their probe into the suspected targeted attack on Zetro.
“The Peruvian police have completed [Zetro’s] autopsy, and arrangements for repatriating his body are underway,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl Achmad Mulachela said in a video statement on Sunday. “If all goes smoothly, the deceased is expected to arrive in Indonesia on Sept. 9.”
Public attention has continued to swell over the death of Zetro, the chancery staff who was shot three times on Sept. 1 while cycling in Lince district just a few meters from his apartment.
CCTV showed Zetro being shot three times before his assailant fled the scene with an accomplice on motorcycle. Zetro was taken to a nearby clinic and was pronounced dead shortly after.
Peruvian authorities, who swiftly launched an investigation following a request for “special attention” from their Indonesian counterparts, have indicated that foul play was involved in the case. Peru Interior Minister Carlos Malaver described it as a “qualified homicide in the form of contract killing” last week.
Statements from Peruvian police, as well as reports from local media throughout the investigation have raised several strong yet unconfirmed theories about the motives behind the homicide, with Peru National Police chief David Guivar pointing to revenge as a likely element in the case.
Read also: Indonesia seeks justice, protection after embassy staff killing in Peru
Lima-based media La Republica has reported, citing unnamed police sources, that Zetro was likely to have been targeted by a sextortion trafficking ring, One Family, with investigators allegedly finding text messages on his phone linked to Venezuelan and Colombian numbers. Investigators have continued probing into Zetro’s phone to investigate the theory, La Republica reported.
Another media outlet, El Comercio, reportedly spoke to police sources claiming that the assailants were not local to Peru, instead individuals from Asia with a longstanding dispute with Zetro dating back to before his diplomatic posting to Lima five months ago. Zetro’s relatively short time in Peru, and the absence of any known personal conflicts with anyone in the country, has made him unlikely to have become the target of any local actors, the sources said.
As investigations are still ongoing, details of the Peruvian authorities’ findings have remained unclear, though its President Dina Boluarte has pledged that necessary measures would be taken to catch the perpetrators.
With Zetro’s death marking the second Indonesian diplomat death in less than two months, the first being Arya Daru Pangayunan’s case in Jakarta in early July, calls for increased protection of foreign service personnel have only intensified.
Read also: Family pleads Prabowo to reopen investigation into diplomat’s death
Arya was found dead in his boarding house in Central Jakarta with his head covered with yellow duct tape, a circumstance police have suggested was self-inflicted despite his family’s protests.
With the increasingly complex threats faced by diplomats in an evolving global dynamic, the government must ensure that their diplomats are sufficiently protected during service, said lawmakers of the House of Representatives’ Commission I overseeing foreign affairs.
“Our diplomats are the spearheads of our international relations, and the government must ensure their security. We cannot let another victim fall due to our weak protection or negligence,” said lawmaker Oleh Soleh last Wednesday.