Suspect's role in Munir murder still mystery

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors will have to work harder to prove that key suspect Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was among the murderers of human rights advocator Munir Said Thalib.

Throughout the trial which has gone on for the past two months, prosecutors were unable to present strong material evidence and witnesses to testify against the defendant.

Pollycarpus, a Garuda Indonesia pilot, is accused by prosecutors of pouring a certain amount of arsenic into a cup of orange juice served as a welcome drink to Munir during a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands via Singapore on Sept. 6, 2004.

A few hours later, Munir was found dead only moments before the Boeing-747 aircraft landed at the Schipol International Airport in the Hague. A Dutch autopsy revealed a huge amount of arsenic in his body.

Two Garuda crew members, who worked in business class during the first leg of the Jakarta-Singapore flight, told the Central Jakarta District Court here on Tuesday that they did not see Pollycarpus pouring anything into the drinks they offered to passengers.

Oedi Irianto, who prepared drink and meals for passengers at the time, said he took all the drinks and meals from a sealed trolley and prepared them in the pantry, adding that his colleague Yetti later distributed the welcome drinks and meals to passengers.

"The defendant did not come into the pantry when I was preparing the welcome drink. I prepared 10 cups of orange juice, three cups of apple juice and three cups of champaign for 16 passengers, including Munir, in the business class," Oedi said but added that he didn't see Yetti offering the welcome drink.

Brahmani Hastawati, a purser who supervised the flight attendants, said the welcome drink was offered as it was done in other foreign flights and that he did not see the defendant involved in the drink and meal service.

However, she said Pollycarpus had informed her about Munir's move from economy class to occupy a seat in business class and had given him a vacant seat in the premium class.

Prosecutors have not asked the Garuda employees to explain why Munir was allowed to be upgraded.

"I didn't see anything strange during the flight," Brahmani said.

Nor could she specify the defendant's motive for flying to Singapore.

At the previous court hearings, Garuda chief pilot Karmal Sembiring and other witnesses from the company said Pollycarpus was assigned to Singapore to audit a Garuda flight there in line with his new assignment as an internal security officer.

The ongoing trial also did not discuss the alleged involvement of certain State Intelligence Agency (BIN) officers in the murder case.

The government-sanctioned fact-finding team had recommended that the National Police look into the alleged role of BIN agents who were found to have made a lot of telephone calls to Pollycarpus before and after Munir's death.

According to the team, the motives behind the murder were believed to be related to Munir's staunch criticism of the Indonesian Military for committing past human rights abuses.

Munir's wife Suciwati, who has frequently been intimidated with grisly mail packages after she demanded justice for her husband's murder, has voiced pessimism that the trial would likely reveal the real culprits behind the assassination.