Lawyers view Pollycarpus as scapegoat in Munir case

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawyers for an Indonesian pilot charged with poisoning leading human rights campaigner Munir Thalib Said, have accused government prosecutors of making up motives behind the murder, saying prosecutors should arrest the real murderer, instead making a scapegoat out of their client.

Mohammad Assegaf who led a team of lawyers representing Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the only suspect on trial in the case, appealed to the panel of judges to drop the murder charges against their client and asked the prosecutors to look for the real culprit.

"The prosecutors have fabricated the motive to trap the defendant in the murder (case) because of their inability to arrest the true murderer," he told the Central Jakarta District Court here on Tuesday.

The wife of Pollycarpus and Munir's wife have made an impassioned plea for the defendant to come out with the truth about his involvement in the murder and to name other players.

Munir died in the business-class cabin of a Garuda flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands in September last year. An autopsy conducted by the Dutch authorities, found excessive amounts of arsenic in his body.

Pollycarpus who was on the flight but not on duty has been indicted with conspiring with two Garuda Indonesia flight attendants to poison Munir, a charge he has denied. The two, Oedi and Yeti, have not been indicted and remain free.

Prosecutors in their indictment described Pollycarpus as a staunch nationalist who saw Munir as "a hindrance to the implementation of the government's programs".

Assegaf said the flimsy accusation showed investigators still had a lot of work to do and must further expand their investigation to include other parties that may be involved in the case.

"It doesn't make sense that a pilot would feel disturbed by Munir's activities. They should be looking for people behind Polly, if indeed he is involved," he said.

Neither the prosecutors nor the lawyers have been able to link Munir's murder to any other parties, including the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), since the government has not yet disclosed to the public the results of the fact-finding team's inquiry into the case.

In its final report, the government-sanctioned team said it had evidence that Pollycarpus was in frequent telephone contact with certain BIN officials before and after Munir's death.

Munir had made many powerful enemies in his crusade to promote human rights and condemn human rights abuses that involved the security authorities.

Outside the court hearing, Munir's wife Suciwati and Pollycarpus's wife Herawati called on the defendant to tell the court the true story about the murder case for the sake of justice.

Suciwati along with dozens of activists from human rights groups Kontras and Impartial said she was convinced that Pollycarpus was not the real murderer of her husband and he should reveal the mastermind.

Herawati said: "Polly, you're a gentleman. Please, confess if you did in fact commit murder, or reveal another name for the sake of justice if you didn't. You should not think of us (Herawati and their children)."