Denny Esema was arrested on 28 March 2022 along with other members and supporters of KNPB when they were attending the burial of one KNPB member, Kris Awi Pahabol. It was reported that as the group was processing to the graveyard, two police members joined in started to disturbed the procession and taking photographs of the people carrying the coffin. As a result several participants got angry and proceeded to beating the two police officers. After the burial, police arrested 83 people for attacking police officers. They were being investigated without lawyers present. The lawyers presented themselves but were denied access by the police. After investigation, police released 62 people. The next day on 29 March police released 16 more while 5 people remained in custody and named suspects. These 5 people were later identified as Erepul S. Sama, Denny Esema, Frengky Edoway, Lucky Wisapla, Yohanes Koyop. Human rights lawyers from Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Papua (LBH) demanded that the two police officers who incited the incident to also be prosecuted.