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.