Pilot gets 14 years for Munir murder

Tiarma Siboro and Rendi A.Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A court sentenced pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto on Tuesday to 14 years' imprisonment for last year's poisoning of leading human rights campaigner Munir, a murder that has been widely linked to intelligence agency officers.

The Central Jakarta District Court also ordered the law enforcement agencies to further investigate the high-profile murder so as to find the masterminds.

The prosecution had sought life for Pollycarpus, a Garuda airlines pilot who is also believed to be a member of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), which was widely blamed for involvement in the kidnapping of government critics during the authoritarian Soeharto regime.

"We consider that a life sentence as demanded by the prosecution is not appropriate for the defendant as we believe there are other people behind the murder," presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso told the court.

The judicial panel ruled that Pollycarpus was guilty of lacing the food served to Munir with a lethal dose of arsenic during a Garuda flight to Amsterdam in September last year.

"The defendant has been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of taking part in the premeditated murder and of falsifying documents (in order to fly aboard the same plane as Munir)," Cicut said.

The judges ordered the prosecution to immediately send Pollycarpus to jail.

Munir, who staunchly criticized the government and military for their poor human rights records, was found dead aboard the flight on Sept. 7, 2004. A Dutch autopsy found a lethal dose of arsenic in his body.

"Munir's criticism of the government, military and intelligence agencies motivated the murder," Cicut said.

The court confirmed the conclusion of a government-established fact-finding team that Pollycarpus had frequent telephone contact with former BIN officers, including its former deputy chief Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono.

A total of 41 contacts via cell phone had been made before and after the murder, the judges added.

"In those conversations, the two discussed the killing of Munir as he continued to sharply criticized the government and the military," Cicut said.

Testifying during the trial, Muchdi denied any wrongdoing. "The court, however, disbelieves his denial as the telephone records show calls between the two cellular phones, one of which was Muchdi's official number," Cicut said.

Nevertheless, the judges stopped short of saying that Pollycarpus was a BIN agent. Instead, they said the defendant had another "profession" besides being a pilot.

Pollycarpus strongly rejected the verdict, claiming he was being "scapegoated".

Commenting on Tuesday's court decision, current BIN chief Syamsir Siregar said the police were to blame for their failure to find the masterminds behind the murder.

"Don't blame BIN for the failure. We gave the police wide access to question those of our agents whom they suspected of involvement in the case. We supported and facilitated them in this case, but the results have been fairly disappointing," he said.

Syamsir urged the public to question the seriousness of the police in investigating the case.

The police said on Tuesday that they would continue their inquiries into the Munir case.

"Investigators will continue to widen the scope of the investigation and to see if others were also involved in Munir's death," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Paulus Purwoko was quoted by AFP as saying.

The government-sanctioned team had recommended that three former BIN officials be questioned by police. They were not publicly named but worked under Syamsir's predecessor, Abdullah Hendropriyono, at the time of the murder.

Hendropriyono has repeatedly denied involvement in any plot to murder Munir.

Munir's widow Suciwati, who attended the entire trial, said she would press ahead with her fight for justice until the masterminds were captured.