Golfrid Siregar death and Batang Toru hydro
- 1 people died.Golfrid Siregar, died 6 October 2019 after being found injured on 3 October.
A WALHI lawyer who was litigating against the 510 MW Batang Toru hydropower project in Indonesia was found injured in Medan in October 2019 and died three days later. Police concluded it was a single-vehicle accident; WALHI disputes this.
As described in the record; financing entry recorded by AidData: $1.25bn.
Status As of the latest record reviewed: the police finding of an accident stands and WALHI disputes it; no court ruling on the death or on the alleged forgery is on record.
- Golfrid Siregar, WALHI lawyer — Died; cause disputed BenarNews
- Tapanuli orangutan — The project is in the species' only known habitat
What happened
Golfrid Siregar, a lawyer with the Indonesian environmental organisation WALHI, was found injured in Medan on 3 October 2019 and died on 6 October 2019.
He was litigating against the 510 MW Batang Toru hydropower project, run by PT NSHE and built by Sinohydro, and had reported the alleged forgery of a signature on the project's environmental-assessment documents.
Police concluded that he was the victim of a single-vehicle accident. WALHI disputes that conclusion.
The project was financed through a 2017 syndicated loan involving Bank of China, China Eximbank and others. AidData records a $1.25bn entry for the project. The project stands in the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan, according to the record reviewed.
- 2017Syndicated loan for the Batang Toru project (Bank of China, China Eximbank and others)
- 2019Golfrid Siregar found injured in Medan on 3 October; died 6 October; police conclude single-vehicle accident, WALHI disputes
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
How it looked
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Accounts
- Disputed What caused Golfrid Siregar's injuries and death?
Record
- Disputed Who, if anyone, was responsible for Siregar's death: the police finding of a single-vehicle accident is disputed by WALHI and no other finding is on record in the sources reviewed.
- Unclear Whether the alleged forgery of the environmental-assessment signature was ever ruled on: no ruling is recorded in the sources reviewed.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the project's current construction and lender status after 2024.
Did the harm stop?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Indonesian activist's death (BenarNews report, 29 October 2019)BenarNews · 2019-10-29
Researchers
Connected cases
- Indonesia waste-to-energy (PSEL) tariff and Danantara Indonesia · 2024–2026
- WALHI (Indonesian Forum for the Environment) (NGO) — here: Environmental organisation; Siregar's employer; there: Environmental NGO; opposes the programme
- Sulawesi 'green nickel' runs on coal power; respiratory infections rose Indonesia · date not stated
- WALHI (Indonesian Forum for the Environment) (NGO) — here: Environmental organisation; Siregar's employer; there: Source of the 2025 figures