Pollycarpus claims he was framed<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A Garuda pilot has denied a charge of premeditating the murder of
\nhuman rights advocate Munir last year, saying he was the victim
\nof a conspiracy.<\/p>\n
Defendant Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto told the court on
\nMonday that accusations that he ordered the poisoning of Munir
\nwere baseless and slanderous.<\/p>\n
"I don't believe that he (Munir) was killed by poison. The
\nmurder was set up, but I don't know who was responsible for the
\ncrime. For sure, I am not a murderer. I didn't kill Munir, and I
\nwish the (real) murderer could stand trial," Pollycarpus told the
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors are demanding Pollycarpus be jailed for life for
\nordering two flight attendants to put arsenic in a drink that
\nkilled Munir while aboard a Garuda flight from Jakarta to
\nAmsterdam in September last year.<\/p>\n
Pollycarpus was aboard the same flight as an aviation security
\nofficer on the Jakarta to Singapore leg of the flight.<\/p>\n
Wearing a white shirt and black trousers, the defendant
\nclaimed he was shocked upon hearing that Munir had been poisoned.<\/p>\n
"I had no idea about masterminding the murder. Neither would I
\nobey an order to kill him even if people offered me money and
\npower for that," Pollycarpus said.<\/p>\n
He said prosecutors had failed to collect strong evidence.<\/p>\n
"No witnesses have testified as to whether they saw me put the
\narsenic into the glass. Prosecutors have also been unable to name
\nany other suspects who actually poured the poison," Pollycarpus
\nsaid. "Prosecutors charged me based on their own assumptions."<\/p>\n
Munir, a consistent critic of the government and military for
\ntheir poor human rights records, died two hours before the
\naircraft landed in Amsterdam. An autopsy found a lethal dose of
\narsenic in his body.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors could not find any other motive driving
\nPollycarpus to commit the murder, except that the Garuda pilot,
\nwho they said was a self-proclaimed nationalist, was "confused"
\nby Munir's activities in defending human rights and promoting
\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n
During several rounds of court hearings, Pollycarpus has
\nchanged his testimony several times.<\/p>\n
On Monday he denied his own previous statement that he offered
\nto move Munir from his economy class seat to a business class
\nseat.<\/p>\n
"It is ridiculous that prosecutors have come up with
\naccusations that I swapped seats with Munir while on board,"
\nPollycarpus said.<\/p>\n
In an earlier hearing, as well as in his account during
\ninterrogation by the police, Pollycarpus admitted that he offered
\nhis business class seat to Munir during the flight to Singapore.<\/p>\n
Pollycarpus also faces a secondary charge of falsifying
\nairline documents to enable him to join the Sept. 7 flight, but
\nhe also denies this.<\/p>\n
Presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso adjourned the trial until
\nTuesday (today) to hear the prosecutors' reply.<\/p>",
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