FAMILIES of Indonesian activists who were kidnapped and tortured by the military 25 years ago expressed shock on Thursday over the apparent presidential election win of the man they blame for the atrocities.

Prabowo Subianto, currently the defence minister under outgoing President Jokowi Widodo, claimed victory in the presidential election on Wednesday, based on unofficial tallies showing that he won by a big margin.

General Subianto was a top commander of the army’s special forces, called Kopassus, under the brutal dictatorship of General Suharto.