Garuda pilot Pollycarpus charged with poisoning Munir
Garuda pilot Pollycarpus charged with poisoning Munir
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
A key suspect in the murder of Munir has been charged with
conspiring with two fellow Garuda Indonesia employees to poison
the human rights campaigner last year, the indictment says.
The indictment, to be read out when Pollycarpus Budihari
Priyanto stands trial on Tuesday, specifically says that the
suspect poured arsenic into an orange juice offered to Munir
during the flight from Jakarta to Singapore on Sept. 6
Pollycarpus' lawyer, Mohammad Assegaf, said on Wednesday the
indictment, which he had read, contained "bizarre facts".
"The indictment is pure theory, in that saying the poison was
poured into the orange juice. As if they knew that Munir would
not choose any other drink offered besides orange juice," Assegaf
said.
The indictment says Pollycarpus swapped his business class
seat with Munir's economy class seat en route to Singapore in
order to facilitate the murder, according to Assegaf.
Pollycarpus, who is a senior Garuda pilot, was on Munir's
flight as an aviation security officer.
The indictment says Pollycarpus planned the murder with Garuda
cabin crew members Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiyarti. The three
are the only suspects in the case, but unlike Pollycarpus, Oedi
and Yeti remain free.
"Police have been unable to link Pollycarpus to Munir's death.
No witnesses saw Pollycarpus put the poison in Munir's drink or
meals. I don't know why the prosecutors insist on connecting
Pollycarpus with the poisoning," Assegaf said.
Munir, a cofounder of human rights watchdogs Kontras and
Imparsial, died two hours before the Garuda plane landed in
Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport on Sept. 7 last year.
An autopsy conducted by Dutch authorities found a lethal
amount of arsenic in his body, leading to the conclusion that he
had been murdered by poisoning.
The police declared Pollycarpus a suspect in March on charges
of facilitating a premeditated murder and document falsification.
It is unclear whether the prosecutors will also charge
Pollycarpus with assisting the mastermind of the murder.
The indictment is a stark contrast to the report from the
government-sanctioned fact-finding team formed to help police
probe the case, which said that former and active officials at
the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) were involved in the murder.
A new team, chaired by Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi, who led the
fact-finding team, is currently investigating the case. Hanafi
has refused to divulge details of the investigation to the media,
just as he did when chairing the old team.
Attorney General's Office spokesman RJ Soehandojo refused to
comment on Assegaf's remarks, saying that the indictment would be
read officially during the first hearing next week.
A panel of five judges with the Central Jakarta District Court
has been appointed to hear the high-profile case. A panel usually
comprises just three judges.