Cops quiz Garuda staff again over Munir case<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police investigators questioned four Garuda Indonesia
\nstewardesses on Tuesday and were scheduled to question another
\nairline employee, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, on Thursday as
\npart of their investigation into the murder of top human rights
\nactivist Munir.<\/p>\n
Head of the investigating team, Sr. Comr. Anton Charlian, told
\nreporters on Tuesday that the four stewardesses were the ones who
\nhad served food and beverages to Munir, who is believed to have
\nbeen poisoned by arsenic during a flight from Jakarta to
\nAmsterdam on Sept. 7 of last year.<\/p>\n
Munir was found dead two hours before his plane landed at
\nSchipol airport in Amsterdam. An autopsy conducted by the Dutch
\nauthorities found excessive amounts of arsenic in his body,
\nstrongly indicating that he had been murdered. It appeared likely
\nthat the poison was administered during the trip from Jakarta to
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
According to the results of the police investigation to date,
\nMunir consumed fried noodles, steak, some fruit and orange juice
\nso that the poison must have been added to one of them.<\/p>\n
The stewardess and other cabin crew members, including
\nPollycarpus, a Garuda pilot who was assigned as the aviation
\nsecurity officer on board the plane, have been questioned by the
\npolice before, but the police decided to question them again
\nfollowing statements by the government-sanctioned fact-finding
\nteam that members of the Garuda crew might have been involved in
\nthe murder.<\/p>\n
\"We will also question Pollycarpus here on Thursday and he
\nwill be accompanied by psychologists as he talked nonsense during
\na meeting with members of the House of Representatives last
\nnight,\" Anton said.<\/p>\n
On Monday night, Pollycarpus was questioned by an
\ninvestigating team set up by the House of Representatives but he
\nclaimed that he did not know and did not remember anything about
\nthe Sept. 7 flight, even the time when the plane took off and
\nlanded.<\/p>\n
Anton also mentioned the possibility that the police would use
\na lie detector to test Pollycarpus' statements, although the
\nresults of a polygraph test were not admissible in evidence here.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, he said that the police were seeking ways to obtain
\nthe necessary assistance from the Netherlands authorities in
\nresolving case.<\/p>\n
\"We have had a lot of difficulties already in investigating
\nthe case since we were not in charge of the crime scene and the
\nDutch police did not want to discuss the case with us, even
\ninformally,\" Anton claimed.<\/p>\n
Previously, the Director of Transnational Security, Brig. Gen.
\nPranowo Dahlan, said that the Netherlands wanted a mutual legal
\nassistance agreement signed between the two countries before
\nIndonesian investigators could do any investigative work there.<\/p>\n
\"From what I've heard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have
\nsent the draft three times to the Dutch authorities. We hope that
\nthe assistance agreement can be signed soon so that it will be
\neasier for us to do our job,\" Anton said.<\/p>\n
He added that the police would also question three experts on
\naviation law on Wednesday about whether the Dutch police should
\nhave been or should not have been permitted to board the plane
\nand investigate the crime scene even though the plane was an
\nIndonesian plane and the victim was an Indonesian citizen.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cops-quiz-garuda-staff-again-over-munir-case-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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