Munir case still far from over
Munir case still far from over
Eva C. Komandjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The fact-finding team probing last year's murder of human rights
campaigner Munir has completed its work and submitted a report of
its findings to the President, but it is unlikely that the high-
profile case will be solved quickly.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did not immediately order
the National Police to follow up the team's report that named
several National Intelligence Agency (BIN) officials as suspects
in the murder.
Instead, Susilo distributed copies of the report to National
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Indonesian Military chief Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto, BIN head Syamsir Siregar and Minister of
Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, to study.
"A meeting will be held to discuss and review the report (with
the President)," Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said here on
Monday.
Da'i Bachtiar promised last week that he would form a team to
follow up the recommendations given by the government-sanctioned
team in order to speed up the investigation into Munir's case.
However, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis
told The Jakarta Post on Monday that there was no sign that such
a police team would be set up soon.
"We've been busy preparing for the Bhayangkara (National
Police's anniversary) Day in the last few days," Zainuri said.
Apart from the police's anniversary celebration, the
replacement of Da'i by Comr. Gen. Sutanto may further delay the
investigation into Munir's death.
Sutanto, the current director of the National Narcotics Agency
(BNN), is expected to replace Da'i ahead of or during the
anniversary day on July 1.
The fact-finding team has said several BIN agents were
involved in the Munir case but refused to name them. However, the
report submitted to the President reportedly mentioned their
names.
The report was completed, even though former BIN chief
Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono and several of his former
subordinates defied summonses for questioning by the team.
Munir, who was a cofounder of two human rights organizations
Kontras and Imparsial, died aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from
Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7 last year.
An autopsy conducted by Dutch authorities revealed that Munir
died due to arsenic poisoning.
The police have only named Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari
Priyanto -- who is alleged to be a BIN agent -- flight attendants
Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiyarti as suspects.
Separately, Garuda's lawyer Mohammad Assegaf said that there
was no new evidence found in the reconstruction of Munir's murder
on board a Garuda plane from Jakarta to Amsterdam.
The case reenactment was held on Friday in a hangar belonging
to the Garuda maintenance facility at the Soekarno Hatta airport,
and was closed to the public.
Assegaf said that there was simply no connection between his
client, Pollycarpus, and Munir's poisoning since Pollycarpus'
role in the flight was only to offer his business class seat to
Munir during the first leg of the flight from Jakarta to
Singapore.
"I believe the police have difficulty linking Pollycarpus to
the poisoning. Besides, the food and drink trolley was sealed
shut in the flight, so there was no possibility that Oedi and
Yeti or even Pollycarpus could have put poison into Munir's
meal," Assegaf argued.