Police to probe Garuda pilot on Munir murder

Police to probe Garuda pilot on Munir murder

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police investigators are zeroing in on four key witnesses in
their efforts to unravel the case of the murder of human rights
activist Munir, a top officer said.

National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung
said on Monday all the four witnesses are Garuda employees,
including pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who was aboard the
Garuda flight that took Munir to Amsterdam, as an aviation
officer.

"We will arrange another round of questioning this week for
Garuda officials and witnesses who we consider to be holding key
information related to the case," Suyitno said after a hearing
with the House of Representatives Commission III for law and
legislation.

When asked whether Garuda's president director Indra Setiawan,
vice president of corporate security Ramelgia Anwar and secretary
of the chief pilot officer Rohainul Aini have been summoned for
questioning, Suyitno refused to confirm or deny the rumor.

Munir, co-founder of both human rights organizations
Indonesian Humans Rights Watch (Imparsial) and the Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was found dead
on Sept. 7 two hours before touchdown. An autopsy by Dutch
authorities discovered excessive level of arsenic in his body.

Pollycarpus was the person who offered Munir the chance to
move from his economy seat to Pollycarpus' business class one.

Suyitno said Pollycarpus would be questioned about who served
food or beverages to Munir among other pertinent details.

The government-sanctioned fact-finding team previously found
that Indra had assigned Pollycarpus to help another unit. The
letter was signed by Ramelgia Anwar, instead of operational
director Rudy A. Hardono, who is the supervisor of all Garuda
pilots.

The letter was allegedly typed and signed on Sept. 17, more
than a week after Munir's death, although Indra claimed that he
had assigned Pollycarpus on Sept. 4.

Rohainul had said the assignment letter was put on her desk
before Munir's flight left Jakarta, but later she changed her
account saying she had not received it before the flight's
departure.

Suyitno said police investigators are gathering more data to
determine the exact time when Munir was poisoned. So far they
believe the rights campaigner was poisoned en route to a stop-
over in Singapore based on the timing of his symptoms.

The officer added that it was difficult for the police to name
suspects now due to lack of hard evidence.