Munir probe team tries to open lid on BIN<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government-sanctioned fact-finding team probing the murder of
\nnoted human rights campaigner Munir signed a protocol on Monday
\nwith the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) in a bid to enable
\ninvestigations into BIN agents who stand accused of involvement
\nin the matter.<\/p>\n
Team member Usman Hamid, however, declined to disclose the
\nprotocol's contents, but said it would significantly assist his
\nteam in summoning BIN officers for questioning.<\/p>\n
\"It is hoped that the protocol will bring down the barriers,\"
\nhe said at the team's secretariat office on Jl. Latuharhari in
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The team has repeatedly complained about a lack of cooperation
\non the part of BIN into the investigation of last year's
\nassassination of Munir.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the team was scheduled to interrogate former BIN
\nsecretary Nurhadi Jazuli, who was recently appointed as the new
\nIndonesian ambassador to Nigeria.<\/p>\n
However, he failed to attend the session for reasons that were
\nunclear, Usman said.<\/p>\n
\"We planned to question Nurhadi today but he called us and
\npostponed the meeting, and changed the venue from our office to
\nBIN headquarters,\" said team chief Marsudi Hanafi, a police
\nbrigadier general.<\/p>\n
\"He's not being cooperative,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The signing of the protocol came after BIN chief Syamsir
\nSiregar assigned three BIN deputies to specifically assist the
\nfact-finding team.<\/p>\n
Earlier, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered all
\nrelevant agencies to cooperate with the team and the National
\nPolice in order to find Munir's killers.<\/p>\n
Munir was found dead aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from
\nJakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. An autopsy by Dutch
\nauthorities found an excessive amount of arsenic in his body.<\/p>\n
Three Garuda crew members -- pilot Pollycarpus Budihari
\nPriyanto and flight attendants Oedi Iriyanto and Yeti Susmiyarti
\n-- have been named by the police as suspects in the case.<\/p>\n
Police investigators on Monday questioned four other Garuda
\nemployees.<\/p>\n
The four -- Garuda pilot in command of the GA-974 flight,
\nCapt. Sabur Taufik, chief steward Brahmani Astawati, Eva Yulianti
\nand Tri Wiryasmadi, both crew members working in economy class,
\narrived at National Police headquarter at 10 a.m., accompanied by
\ntheir lawyer Wirawan Adnan.<\/p>\n
\"These crew members were summoned as witnesses because they
\nprobably knew what was happening on the flight at that time,\"
\nWirawan said.<\/p>\n
He said that Brahmani and Eva may have information on what
\nMunir and Pollycarpus were doing while they were aboard the
\nplane, adding that Brahmani was the one who gave permission for
\nPollycarpus to exchange seats with Munir during the first leg of
\nthe flight from Jakarta to Singapore.<\/p>\n
Pollycarpus, an alleged BIN agent, was charged with
\n\"facilitating\" the murder of Munir, as he called up Munir
\nbeforehand to check if the rights activist would be on the
\nflight, and offered him his seat in business class.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Garuda vice president of corporate security Ramelgia
\nAnwar denied he ever issued Pollycarpus an assignment letter to
\nfly to Singapore on Sept. 6, claiming it was the his own decision
\nto take the GA-974 flight at that time.<\/p>\n
In response, Pollycarpus' lawyer Suhardi Somomoeljono said his
\nclient was merely doing his duty to his superiors and he was
\nwondering why he was being singled out.<\/p>\n
\"He (Pollycarpus) feels like he has been abandoned to take all
\nthe blame. No Garuda officials pay any attention to him now, and
\nthey have not even supplied him with a lawyer, even though he is
\nstill a Garuda employee,\" Suhardi said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/munir-probe-team-tries-to-open-lid-on-bin-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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