Pilot gets 14 years for Munir murder

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.