Ex-BIN chief to be grilled in Munir probe
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government-sanctioned fact finding team (TPF), which has a mandate to assist the police during the investigation into the killing of rights champion Munir, plans to question the former spy chief to determine if he had any role in the poisoning.
Former head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono, who was replaced just weeks after Munir's death aboard a Garuda Air flight to Holland, will be questioned within two weeks.
One TPF member, Rachland Nashiddik, of rights watchdog Imparsial said on Thursday that Hendropriyono would be grilled about the alleged involvement of BIN personnel in what most pundits believe was a case of pre-meditated murder of the outspoken government critic last September.
Rachland said former deputy BIN chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Muchdi PR and BIN official Col. (ret) Bambang Irawan would also be questioned soon.
The series of questioning, Rachland insisted, was necessary after the team and the police investigators "found a connection between those three men and (top suspect) Pollycarpus."
Rachland was referring to Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a Garuda pilot/security officer who has been named a suspect in the case. He reportedly persuaded Munir to change seats to business class on the Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore.
Munir died two hours before landing in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities found nearly five times the lethal dose of arsenic in Munir's body.
"We have prepared the summonses for Hendropriyono, Muchdi and Bambang. As we've recently learned that Hendropriyono is currently living in the United States, we will ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his address," Rachland said.
Following the questioning of former BIN secretary-general Nurhadi Djazuli last week, the team came to the conclusion that Munir's death was a result of an intelligence operation, which allegedly involved selected BIN agents, added Rachland.
"But we don't think the murder was part of BIN policy. It was possibly the work of certain men in the institution," Rachland said.
Hendropriyono and Muchdi were still active in BIN when Munir died.
The team became very interested in Bambang after Pollycarpus told them that the BIN official was also seated in business class on the same flight that he and Munir were on.
A source said Bambang made a stop in Singapore. The source also said Pollycarpus first met Bambang when they took a shooting course organized by the Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin). The two were also seen in Aceh days after the government imposed martial law in the province in May 2003.
The TPF members also discovered, some weeks ago, that Pollycarpus made dozens of telephone calls, shortly before and after the death of Munir, to Muchdi and Hendropriyono.
"Of course, we have no right to intercept their conversation, but the police do," another team member Usman Hamid of the National Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of the Violence (Kontras) said.
The team also found that Bambang is a medical doctor who served with the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus). He was moved to the Army's health directorate rose to the rank of captain. In the 1990s, he was hired by BIN. His military record also reveals that Bambang is familiar with chemical materials.
Police have also named flight attendants Yeti Susmiyarti and Oedi Irianto suspects in the case, who are thought to have served arsenic-laced food or drink to Munir on the Jakarta-Singapore leg.