A panel of five Supreme Court judges made the unanimous verdict of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto being guilty of premeditated murder of the prominent human rights defender Munir Thalib and was sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment. In 2005 a lower court convicted Polycarpus of the killing of Munir. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court drawing local and international criticism.
Ms. Suciwati together with the help of local lawyers, human rights activists both local and international campaigned heavily for effective investigations into the murder. Years of lethargy, feet dragging, behind the scene negotiations and denials did not prevent the determined effort of “Kasum” an ad hoc alliance of lawyers and human rights activists in campaigning vigorously for the unravelling of the mastermind behind the murder.
The efforts of local and international persons and bodies resulted in the revision of the earlier Supreme Court decision, which no doubt is merely for the records. In the context of high profile cases, it is the first time in the history of Indonesia that one of its own decisions has been revised based on the new evidence gained in the investigations. The police and the attorney general also need to be complemented for their commitment in continuing with the investigations despite pressure from various quarters. Though it is coincidental that this decision was made in the wake of the death of Soeharto, we hope that this signals the demise of the system of impunity which has not only prolonged the prosecution in the case of Munir but also effectively prevented adjudication in a number of gross human rights violations.
However, the mystery behind the murder of Munir is yet to be uncovered. Three employees of the state airline Garuda have been charged and two convicted. The intriguing question is for what purpose should the employees of the national airline commit such a sordid murder? In the evidence given by Garuda employee Indra Setiawan there was admission of a request from some of the then senior members of BIN, the national intelligence agency of Indonesia, to have Polycarpus appointed as an aviation security. There was also indication of the involvement of the members of BIN in the plan to murder Munir. This evidence needs to be corroborated with the numerous phone calls made between the Garuda employee and the senior intelligence official prior to the murder. The verdict to Polycarpus does not mean that Munirs case is closed. This momentum is just an entry point to reveal the whole case and furthermore, it will create a standard to lift up the prosecution to the next level.
Given the context of the mounting evidence of the collaboration, if not the entire orchestration of BIN in the murder of Munir, it is up to the Indonesian authorities and the national police to continue with the investigation so that the mastermind behind the murder is revealed and the integrity of the local prosecuting machinery can be established. This perhaps is the moment for the prosecution machinery, which suffered through the controls by the Executive that downgraded itself to be its loyal tool, to emerge as an independent mechanism in delivering justice which is the basis for a democratic society. If the present exercise to unravel the truth is taken to its logical conclusion, it can contribute to the cleansing of the national intelligence agency which has hitherto acted apparently to support criminality as was the case with the death of Munir. The people in Indonesia deserve the guarantee that the national intelligence agency is deprived of the complicity in crimes and to be an arm of the justice system that conducts effective and impartial investigations both to punish the perpetrators and to prevent further violations of human rights.
The earnestness, with which the national police conducted the investigations into the murder of Munir, is what each Indonesian expects and deserves. The recent signs of emerging lawlessness can be countered only by the strict enforcement of the rule of law and the Asian Human Rights Commission expects that this tragic event of the death of the prominent activist will be the moment of enlightenment for the system of prosecution in the country.
