Team questions Garuda's commitment in Munir probe<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
A fact-finding team helping the police investigate the death of
\nprominent human rights activist Munir questioned on Monday
\nnational flag carrier Garuda's commitment to support the much-
\ndemanded probe.<\/p>\n
The team accused the airline of being uncooperative and
\nconcealing key information about last year's death of Munir, thus
\nslowing down the investigation process.<\/p>\n
Munir, who had staunchly criticized human rights records of
\nsecurity personnel including the military and police, died of
\narsenic poisoning on board a Garuda flight to Amsterdam from
\nJakarta on Sept. 7 last year.<\/p>\n
Last Tuesday, Garuda canceled the plan to begin reconstructing
\nthe scene of Munir's death as part of the investigation to find
\nsuspects. Company officials were quoted as saying the
\ncancellation was because some crew members were busy on that day.<\/p>\n
After a two-hour closed-door meeting at the National Police
\nHeadquarters between the team and Garuda officials on Monday, the
\nteam chaired by Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi announced it had found
\nmany discrepancies in the information provided by company
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
"Firstly, Garuda Indonesia did not conduct an internal
\ninvestigation of the death as it had promised to us. This is a
\nviolation of Aviation Law No. 15\/1992 and the Warsaw convention
\non aviation," Marsudi said.<\/p>\n
According to the law and the convention, an airline must take
\nresponsibility for a death onboard. That includes investigating
\nits own management over the death.<\/p>\n
"We also found that Garuda officials were very defensive in
\nthe meeting and seemed to be trying to cover up something,"
\nMarsudi said.<\/p>\n
He said another discrepancy was found in an assignment letter
\ngiven to "a Garuda employee" aboard the flight, where Munir was
\npoisoned.<\/p>\n
Marsudi refused to mention the employee's name. However, it is
\nbelieved he was referring to Garuda pilot Pollycarpus, who
\noffered Munir a seat in the business class during the Jakarta-
\nSingapore flight.<\/p>\n
Previously, a Garuda official had claimed that Pollycarpus was
\non board the plane as an aviation security officer. However, this
\nwas initially not backed up by any documents.<\/p>\n
According to a police source, the assignment letter was only
\nissued only after the cause of Munir's death was publicly
\nrevealed.<\/p>\n
Garuda president director Indra Setiawan, who attended
\nMonday's meeting, denied these allegations, saying he had
\nassigned Pollycarpus to assist another unit at his company before
\nthe murder case.<\/p>\n
"Yes I did sign the letter but I had assigned him way before
\nit (the murder) took place. It's normal to assign an employee to
\nassist another unit, isn't?" he said.<\/p>\n
Some reports have linked Pollycarpus with the State
\nIntelligence Agency (BIN), saying he was recruited by the agency
\nto perform "special missions" for Garuda.<\/p>\n
However, Indra denied all knowledge of this possibility. "I
\nonly know him as our pilot. That's all."<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/team-questions-garudas-commitment-in-munir-probe-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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