Team looks at possible suspect in Munir case

Team looks at possible suspect in Munir case

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Six months after human rights campaigner Munir was murdered, a
fact-finding team assigned to help the police investigate the
case may have a suspect.

The head of the team, Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi, said on
Tuesday the team was looking at an employee of Garuda airline.

"I do not want to mention the name, but this person could be
named a suspect in the case," he said when asked whether he was
referring to Pollycarpus, a Garuda pilot who was on the same
flight as Munir on Sept. 7, 2004, from Jakarta to the
Netherlands, via Singapore.

Munir, the founder of the human rights organizations Impartial
and Kontras, is believed to have been poisoned by arsenic during
the flight from Jakarta to Singapore. He died two hours before
the airplane landed in the Netherlands. Pollycarpus, who was on
the flight to Singapore as a passenger, reportedly spoke with
Munir during the flight and offered to have him moved from
economy class to business class.

According to Garuda president director Indra Setiawan,
Pollycarpus was flying to Singapore that day to assist a Garuda
unit on the island state.

Indra said he signed the assignment letter for Pollycarpus
personally, that the letter was issued before Pollycarpus left
for Singapore and that it was common practice for Garuda
employees to be assigned to other units.

However, the fact-finding team found that the letter was dated
on Sept. 17, more than a week after Munir's death, and that it
was typed and signed on a Saturday when administration offices
are normally closed.

"That letter was signed after Munir had died, which indicates
that it was only signed after the media had reported about the
suspicious death of Munir," Marsudi said.

A source inside National Police Headquarters said the letter
was signed by Garuda's vice president of corporate security,
Ramalgia Anwar, not the operational director, who is the
supervisor for all Garuda pilots.

The source also said that during a two-hour meeting between
the fact-finding team and Garuda officials on Monday, the
operational director, Rudy A. Hardono, said he was not aware of
any assignment for Pollycarpus.

In fact, after Munir's murder Rudy grounded Pollycarpus for
seven days for leaving his unit without permission.

Marsudi said he would submit the name of the suspect to police
investigators so they could expand the investigation.

Police investigators, led by Sr. Comr. Oktavianus Far-far,
previously questioned Pollycarpus along with other Garuda crew
members.

Separately, the director of transnational crime at National
Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Pranowo, said a preliminary
reconstruction of the murder had to be canceled again because
Garuda was "not yet ready".