Police say diplomat Zetro Leonardo Purba was shot three times as he bicycled home to his apartment in Lima, Peru.
Published On 2 Sep 2025
The Peruvian government has offered its condolences for the “assassination” of an Indonesian diplomat in its capital, Lima, calling the situation “lamentable” and a “heinous act”.
On Tuesday, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing its “deepest condolences and deepest condemnation” for the killing of Zetro Leonardo Purba, 40, a member of Indonesia’s diplomatic corps.
Surveillance footage released by Peruvian police shows Purba bicycling home to his apartment on Monday night, when an unknown assailant, wearing a helmet, approaches him near the building’s entrance and shoots him twice.
After Purba fell from his bike, the gunman shot him a third time before fleeing on a motorcycle driven by a suspected accomplice.
Purba was later declared dead at a Peruvian hospital. A motive for the shooting remains unknown.
In Tuesday’s statement, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry confirmed an investigation was under way to find those responsible. It also offered support and enhanced police protection to Indonesia’s embassy staff.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to provide all the support and assistance required by the Indonesian authorities in this matter and affirms that this crime will be thoroughly investigated,” it wrote.
Sugiono, Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs, also said he held a call with his Peruvian counterpart, Elmer Schialer, to push for a rigorous investigation into the shooting.
“We trust Peru will ensure the highest protection for our embassy staff, families, & citizens in [the country],” Sugiono, who goes by a single name, wrote on social media.
The head of Peru’s national police, Victor Guivar, speculated on TV Peru that the attack could be a targeted assassination to settle scores.
“Based on the physical characteristics we have been able to see on the video surveillance cameras, they would be foreign citizens,” Guivar said.
But various Indonesian officials have told Peruvian media they doubt that assessment, explaining that Purba had not received threats in the lead-up to the shooting.
According to media reports, Purba had lived in Lima for about five months with his wife and children at the time of his death.
One Indonesian embassy worker, Irwan Butapierre, told local media he blamed rampant crime in the Peruvian capital.
“Peru is an unsafe country. He was calmly riding his bike, not anticipating any danger,” the newspaper La Republica quoted Butapierre as saying. “I don’t know why they killed him.”
Under Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, homicides and extortion in the country have risen.
An estimated 6,041 people were killed between January and mid-August, the highest number for that period since 2017. And reports of extortion totalled 15,989 between January and July, a 28 percent increase over that period in 2024.
Just last month, Boluarte completed a diplomatic visit to the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, where she and President Prabowo Subianto celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations between Peru and Indonesia.
They also signed a free-trade agreement to boost the economic ties between their two countries.
