Maikel Yaam was arrested on 2nd of September 2021 and accused of being involved in the attack at the Maybrat military post attack which resulted in the killing of the Indonesian army personnel. The attack was allegedly carried out by the West Papua National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat, TPNPB) at the District Military Post Kisor which killed 4 members of the Indonesian army. The Indonesian security forces carried out raids in the villages around the location of the incident. Maikel Yaam was arrested along with several other villagers and detained at Sorong Selatan District Police station for questioning. It was reported that the police tortured Maikel Yaam using electrocution and brass knuckles for three hours straight to force him giving out information on the people who were involved in the attack. To stop the torture, Maikel gave random names of the people he knew which later used by police to issue a wanted list. Maikel while himself was a suspect, he also became a crown witness in court for other detainees who were arrested later in connection to the military post attack. On 29th of December Maikel Yaam together with five other detainees namely RY, Amos Ky, YW, MS, and Agustinus Yaam (Sorong Six) were transfered to District Police Sulawesi Selatan, South Sulawesi Province to face trial.

The transfer was done without notification to Sorong Six lawyers and family members. The transfer also complicated the legal accompaniment provided by LBH Kaki Abu and also raised the concerns of family members particularly the family of the minors in detention.

In order to accompany the trial process in Makassar, LBH Kaki Abu formed coalition with LBH Makassar to provide legal accompaniment for them.

On 27th and 28th of March 2022 three defendants Maikel Yaam, RY and Amos Ky were visited by the police investigators during the course of the trial. The legal counsel later found out that the defendants were asked to change their testimony/confession with the promise that they will be returned to Papua if they did so. During trial on the next day, the three defendants confessed that they are guilty of the charges.

On 31st of May 2022, along with RY and Amos Ky, Maikel Yaam was sentenced to 20 years. The prosecutor demanded that they be sentenced to life imprisonment. They are currently serving sentence in Makassar jail. Both the prosecutor and the defendants appealed to the high court. However, the high court decided to uphold the previous verdict. The prosecutor appealed again to the Supreme Court, but the appeal was withdrawn on 5 September 2022.

District court (31/05/2022): 20 years

High court (28/07/2022): 20 years