Dutch to share evidence in Munir case
Dutch to share evidence in Munir case
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Dutch government has agreed to hand over to Indonesian
authorities much awaited information and evidence in the
poisoning death of rights campaigner Munir.
The government said on Saturday the Dutch government had
agreed to share a number of pieces of evidence with Indonesian
police to help speed up the investigation into the murder of
Munir, who died two hours before his Garuda Indonesia plane
landed in Schipol, Amsterdam, in September last year.
Police earlier said they were having trouble investigating the
case due to a lack of hard evidence and the refusal of the Dutch
government to allow Indonesian police to question witnesses
there.
It was reported that the Netherlands was refusing to share
evidence because Indonesia has capital punishment, which the
Dutch object to.
"Through our ambassador, the Dutch government has said they
will help the investigation by handing over several pieces of
evidence they have," the director of Western Europe at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, told The Jakarta Post
on Saturday.
The Indonesian and Dutch governments do not have a mutual
legal assistance agreement, but the Indonesian ambassador was
able to convince the Dutch authorities the evidence was pivotal
to the case, she said.
Retno said the evidence to be handed over included documents,
interview results and case reports from the Schipol airport
police, and several tissue samples Dutch doctors took from Munir
during his autopsy.
The autopsy prompted the investigation after doctors found
Munir's body contained excessive amounts of arsenic, raising
suspicion that the rights campaigner did not die of natural
causes.
Retno said the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands was
scheduled to meet with officials from the Dutch department of
justice on Monday in The Hague to discuss the mechanisms for
turning over the evidence. They will also discuss what else the
Dutch government can do to assist the case.
She said the meeting would also discuss the possibility of
Indonesian police questioning two Dutch citizens, Lie Kian Wang
and his wife Lie Fong, who sat near Munir during the flight from
Singapore to the Netherlands.
Retno did not say whether this Dutch assistance meant
Indonesia had promised not to seek a death sentence in the
case.
The director of transnational crime at National Police
Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Pranowo Dahlan, confirmed on Saturday
the Dutch assistance. He said he was hopeful the evidence would
help untangle the case, which has drawn international attention.
Six months after Munir's death, police have named one suspect,
Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who is also alleged
to be a member of the National Intelligence Agency.
A government-sanctioned fact-finding team helping police
investigate the case has submitted the names of six possible
suspects. The team is expected to meet with officials from the
National Intelligence Agency this week for more information on
its alleged involvement in the case.