The Jakarta Post, August 14, 2007
AGO case against Pollycarpus strengthens
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The AGO is confident the testimony of former Garuda Indonesia chairman Indra
Setiawan will have a significant impact on its case involving the alleged murder of
rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
The Attorney General's Office has initiated legal moves to reverse the Supreme Court
ruling that exonerated the alleged murderer of the human rights activist.
The office continues to charge that former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto
was responsible.
"It (Indra Setiawan's testimony) will have a strong effect (to the Pollycarpus ruling),"
Attorney General Hendarman Supandji told reporters Monday.
"The Supreme Court ruled that Pollycarpus only committed an administrative violation.
"But (the court) hasn't found the actual killer.
"There must definitely be a murderer."
He said his office believed Pollycarpus was the one who put the poison in Munir's
drink.
Munir died from arsenic poisoning on September 7, 2004, while flying Garuda from
Jakarta to Amsterdam with a stop in Singapore.
Last week, the National Police said Indra stated he had received a letter from a senior
official of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), which instructed him to assign
Pollycarpus as an aviation security officer on Munir's flight.
There have been widespread rumors that BIN officials were involved in the murder.
But Hendarman refused to comment on BIN's involvement in the murder case.
"Let's just see (what happens) in court," he said.
"I only want to talk about the facts.
"I don't want to make any conclusions.
"It's for the court to decide."
M. Assegaf, Pollycarpus' lawyer, said he wanted a confirmation from BIN regarding
the letter to Indra.
"It doesn't make sense if BIN issued a letter for a murder conspiracy," Assegaf said.
"Intelligence usually operates silently."
Pollycarpus has always denied any relationship with BIN even though the police found
proof of a series of calls between BIN and Pollycarpus.
At the beginning of this month, Munir's wife, Suciwati, and Usman Hamid of the
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence met with Hendarman at the
AGO.
Usman said the AGO would continue efforts to pursue the people involved in Munir's
murder.
He said new evidence submitted by the AGO for the case review mentioned names
from Garuda and BIN.
The police last week submitted files to the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's office on
Indra and Rohainil Aini, secretary to Garuda chief pilot, as two new suspects in the
murder.
Both of them were charged under article 340 of the Criminal Code on premeditated
murder. (08)
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