Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had been informed that two more suspects in Munir’s case have been identified and their court records have been conveyed to the Jakarta Pusat District Court. Munir died of arsenic poisoning on a Garuda Indonesia Airways flight to Amsterdam on 7 September 2004. Following the acquittal of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot, from a charge of murder two years ago, the police have continued investigating the case to identify other involved.
UPDATED INFORMATION:
On September 27, the court records of Munir’s case, in which the two suspects, namely: Indra Setiawan, former Director of Garuda Airways and Rohainil Aini, former Secretary to Chief Security Airbus 330 Garuda Airways, have been charged have been forwarded to the Jakarta Pusat District Court.
According to the Attorney General Office (AGO), the suspects are being prosecuted in separate charges for violation of Article of 340 of the Indonesian Penal Code described as committing an act of premeditated murder.
Indra and Rohainil have also been charged for Article of 340 jo. 56 par. 2 for aiding or providing assistance to commit murder. According to AGO, on 11 October 2004 Indra was in his office and was responsible in deliberately providing opportunity for or information to, Pollycarpus to enable him to come close with Munir which has eventually resulted in his murder. This offense is punishable by death, life imprisonment or a maximum 20 years jail term.
Apart from charges of Article of 340 jo. 56 par. 2 filed on Rohainil, she has also been charged for violation of Article 263 par. 1 described as committing an act of forgery. The other records, whereby Pollycarpus had been charged as suspect in the murder, have already been on a final review appeal. For further details of this update, please see: UP-115-2007.
At the time of his death, Munir founded the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence. He was critical with the Indonesian Military whom he accused of committing rights violations, illegal logging and smuggling in Aceh and Papua provinces.
In spite of this legal action, there are still concerns on the progress of Munir’s case. For example, the police are struggling to have a person involved in Munir’s death who allegedly had links with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) investigated.
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
