Team to focus on BIN's role in Munir murder<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A government fact-finding team urged police on Tuesday to widen
\ntheir probe into the death of the country's most prominent human
\nrights activist by questioning several new suspects, including
\nagents from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).<\/p>\n
Munir Said Thalib died on a Garuda Indonesia flight to
\nAmsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. A Dutch police report later found
\nthat the 38-year-old rights campaigner had been poisoned with
\nnearly 500 milligrams of arsenic, four times the lethal dose.<\/p>\n
The autopsy report prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
\nto set up a special commission to find the culprits, and
\nestablish whether members of the Indonesian Military (TNI), BIN
\nor the state bureaucracy were involved. A legislative panel also
\nhas convened hearings about the case.<\/p>\n
Hendardi, a member of the government fact-finding team, said
\npolice, who last week arrested a Garuda pilot on suspicion of
\ninvolvement in the conspiracy to murder Munir, have alleged that
\nhe "facilitated" the poisoning.<\/p>\n
The pilot, identified as Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto,
\nreportedly contacted Munir ahead of the flight and arranged for
\nhim to get a business-class seat. National media reports have
\nrepeatedly suggested that the pilot is linked to BIN.<\/p>\n
Munir was a vocal critic of the military, accusing the
\ninstitution of human rights violations in the troubled provinces
\nof Papua and Aceh and of running a criminal network involved in
\nillegal logging and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
He also provided legal counsel for victims of officially
\nsanctioned violence during former president Soeharto's 32-year
\nrule that ended in 1998.<\/p>\n
Following his death, Munir's widow received anonymous threats
\ndemanding that she not implicate the military in her husband's
\ndeath.<\/p>\n
Although BIN is a civilian agency, many of its agents and
\nofficials are either active or retired military officers. Garuda
\nis a state-owned airline and many of its staff members formerly
\nserved in the armed forces.<\/p>\n
"We have recommended that police question six persons,
\nincluding four from Garuda and two from the intelligence agency,"
\nsaid Hendardi. "It is up to the police to decide whether they
\nshould be named suspects."<\/p>\n
"Also, we are now trying to meet with BIN officials to
\ndetermine whether they have knowledge about this conspiracy," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Police Sr. Comr. Anton Charlian also said Garuda's outgoing
\ndirector, Indra Setiawan, would be interrogated in connection
\nwith the case.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, a top police investigator told reporters that
\ndetectives were questioning a Garuda secretary, who is believed
\nto have forged a letter instructing Pollycarpus to fly to
\nSingapore as an off-duty pilot on the first leg of Garuda's Sept.
\n7 flight to Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the fact-finding team found "evidence that showed
\nGaruda officials conspired to cover up the wrongdoings" in the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Pollycarpus' lawyers said their client may face the
\ndeath penalty if convicted.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Suhadi Sumomoelyono said police were considering
\nwhether to charge the pilot with premeditated murder, which
\ncarries a maximum penalty of death and a minimum of 20 years in
\nprison.<\/p>\n
"Police have informed my client of the use of those articles
\nwhile his charge sheet is being prepared. They are still trying
\nto determine his role in the case through interrogations," Suhadi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He voiced concerns last week that his client had been set up
\nto protect others involved in a wider conspiracy.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/team-to-focus-on-bins-role-in-munir-murder-1447893297",
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