Pollycarpus claims he was framed

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A Garuda pilot has denied a charge of premeditating the murder of human rights advocate Munir last year, saying he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Defendant Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto told the court on Monday that accusations that he ordered the poisoning of Munir were baseless and slanderous.

"I don't believe that he (Munir) was killed by poison. The murder was set up, but I don't know who was responsible for the crime. For sure, I am not a murderer. I didn't kill Munir, and I wish the (real) murderer could stand trial," Pollycarpus told the court.

Prosecutors are demanding Pollycarpus be jailed for life for ordering two flight attendants to put arsenic in a drink that killed Munir while aboard a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September last year.

Pollycarpus was aboard the same flight as an aviation security officer on the Jakarta to Singapore leg of the flight.

Wearing a white shirt and black trousers, the defendant claimed he was shocked upon hearing that Munir had been poisoned.

"I had no idea about masterminding the murder. Neither would I obey an order to kill him even if people offered me money and power for that," Pollycarpus said.

He said prosecutors had failed to collect strong evidence.

"No witnesses have testified as to whether they saw me put the arsenic into the glass. Prosecutors have also been unable to name any other suspects who actually poured the poison," Pollycarpus said. "Prosecutors charged me based on their own assumptions."

Munir, a consistent critic of the government and military for their poor human rights records, died two hours before the aircraft landed in Amsterdam. An autopsy found a lethal dose of arsenic in his body.

Prosecutors could not find any other motive driving Pollycarpus to commit the murder, except that the Garuda pilot, who they said was a self-proclaimed nationalist, was "confused" by Munir's activities in defending human rights and promoting democracy.

During several rounds of court hearings, Pollycarpus has changed his testimony several times.

On Monday he denied his own previous statement that he offered to move Munir from his economy class seat to a business class seat.

"It is ridiculous that prosecutors have come up with accusations that I swapped seats with Munir while on board," Pollycarpus said.

In an earlier hearing, as well as in his account during interrogation by the police, Pollycarpus admitted that he offered his business class seat to Munir during the flight to Singapore.

Pollycarpus also faces a secondary charge of falsifying airline documents to enable him to join the Sept. 7 flight, but he also denies this.

Presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso adjourned the trial until Tuesday (today) to hear the prosecutors' reply.