Team summons ex-BIN Hendro for second time

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government-sanctioned fact-finding team assigned to help the police investigate the death of top rights campaigner Munir expects to question former chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono on Thursday.

Team member Usman Hamid said a letter had been sent on Tuesday to the BIN office requesting that Hendropriyono submit to questioning to establish whether the agency was in any way connected to Munir's death.

"We have followed all conditions set by Hendropriyono's side," Usman said.

The team previously summoned the retired four-star Army general but he did not show up as instructed on Monday, citing unspecified business out of town. His lawyer said that Hendropriyono also objected to the way the team had summoned him, which he called "non-procedural and unprofessional".

According to Usman, one of Hendropriyono's requirements was that the summons must be sent through the BIN office.

The team has also requested that former deputy BIN chief Maj. Gen. Muchdi PR show up for questioning on Wednesday.

It remains unclear, however, whether Hendropriyono will turn up on Thursday.

Hendropriyono's lawyer, Maj. Gen. (ret) Sjamsu Djalal, said he would check whether a copy of the summons was sent to National Police Headquarters to inform the police of the questioning.

"In principal we will assist the team as long as the members respect other people's rights. While collecting information, wouldn't it be more appropriate for the team to advise my client and go to my client's place, instead of summoning my client? The team is not the executor, anyway. It exists just to assist the police, nothing more, nothing less," Sjamsu told The Jakarta Post by phone.

"As of today, my client is dealing with other business out of Jakarta, anyway," he added.

Hendropriyono, via his lawyer, previously protested the use of the terms "summons" and "questioning" as it had the tendency to create the impression that he was a suspect in the case.

The team is under pressure to speed up the investigation as its mandate expires in two weeks.

Munir died last September on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. According to Dutch authorities, which performed an autopsy, there was an excessive amount of arsenic in Munir's system, suggesting that he was poisoned during the flight. The police have named three Garuda personnel suspects, including off- duty pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who gave his business class seat to Munir on the flight from Jakarta to Singapore, during which it is believed Munir was poisoned. There are rumors that Pollycarpus was a BIN agent at the time.

Meanwhile, the police on Tuesday questioned former Garuda president Indra Setiawan to confirm whether he had issued a letter assigning Pollycarpus to fly on the same flight as Munir.