[Kabar-indonesia] Wife of Indonesian activist fatally poisoned on Garuda jet sues airline [+IPS]

[Joyo at aol.com]

Also: IPS: Political Will to Nail Killers of Top Activist Missing

Wife of Indonesian activist fatally poisoned on Garuda jet sues the airline

JAKARTA, October 9 (AP) - The wife of an Indonesian rights activist
poisoned to death while on board a Garuda jet launched a civil case
against the national carrier Monday in which she demanded almost
US$1.5 million (euro1.18 million) in damages.

The court case comes less than a week after the only person convicted
in the killing -- an off-duty Garuda pilot -- was acquitted by
Indonesia's Supreme Court after judges ruled there was not enough
evidence.

Munir Thalib, a human rights lawyer who often received death threats
linked to his work exposing abuses at the hands of security forces,
died of arsenic poisoning on a flight in September 2004 from Jakarta
to Amsterdam.

His wife, Suciwati Thalib, said Garuda was negligent for not
protecting her husband and should pay rupiah 9.74 billion (US$1.4
million; euro1.1 million) in damages.

"Garuda has to be accountable for the safety of every passenger,
including my husband," Suciwati said after the Central Jakarta
District Court began hearing the case Monday. "I hope we will win."

Garuda's spokesman Pudjobroto and lawyers could not be reached for
immediate comment.

The acquittal of the off-duty pilot angered many in Indonesia, where
the case was seen as a test for a legal system still considered by
many to be beholden to the military and political elite.

An independent investigation launched after the killing concluded
Munir was killed because of his human rights work. The probe also
alleged the plot had links to the intelligence agency, but the claims
were not followed up by police.

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Inter Press Service
October 9, 2006

Political Will to Nail Killers of Top Activist Missing

Fabio Scarpello

JAKARTA - Human rights activists are accusing the government of
lacking political will to nail the murderers of one Indonesia's
leading anti-corruption activists -- poisoned on board a Garuda flight
to Amsterdam in September 2004.

In an interview with IPS, Agung Yudhawiranata, programme coordinator
for the human rights campaign of the Institute for Policy Research and
Advocacy (ELSAM), said that Jakarta seems unwilling to scrape below
the surface.

''The political will does not seem to be there. The investigations
have been carried out by low-rank police and military personnel, and I
do not think these (people) have the courage or will to really dig
deeper and find out who ordered the murder," Yudhawiranata said.

"The government has made many promises but, if it really wants to
solve the murder, it must assign higher-rank officials to (run) the
investigations," he added.

Munir Said Thalib, usually referred to only as Munir, was Indonesia's
foremost human rights activist. He was the founder of the Commission
for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and also of the
Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial).

His work, primarily aimed at exposing illegal activities committed by
the government and the military, earned him the respect of many: he
was named Man of the Year in 1998 by a leading Indonesian Muslim
periodical UMMAT, and a young leader for the Millennium by Asiaweek in
2000. The same year he became a recipient of the Right Livelihood
Award-- known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' -- for "his courage and
dedication in fighting for human rights and civilian control of the
military in Indonesia."

But his exposes also earned him powerful enemies within Indonesia's
dark power circles. He received many death threats before he was
killed, aged 38.

In Jakarta, many believe that members of the military, or the secret
services, Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN), might have been involved in
his death. This perception was reinforced by the findings of an
independent fact-finding team (Tim Pencari Fakta), established by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in December 2004.

Garuda staff tried to pass off Munir's death as a case of heart attack
but the conspiracy began to unravel after Dutch authorities insisted
on conducting an inquest and autopsy which turned up evidence of
arsenic poisoning.

The President's team ended its six-month mandate on Jun. 23, 2005 and
produced a lengthy report with detailed findings and recommendations,
which was presented to the police. As Human Right Watch (HRW)
summarised it, the team identified Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto
as a primary suspect in the case. Pollycarpus had been issued with a
special "aviation security" assignment to travel on Flight 974,
traveling on the first leg of the flight only, from Jakarta to
Singapore.

According to Munir's widow, Pollycarpus made several phone calls to
their home to check on her husband's flight plans. When the passengers
boarded the aircraft in Jakarta, Pollycarpus allegedly offered Munir
an upgrade to business class.

The team examined Pollycarpus' mobile phone records and traced several
numbers, one of which was a confidential line to the intelligence
branch led by retired Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwoprajoyo, a deputy director
of the State Intelligence Body.

Records reportedly showed that as many as 26 calls were made to
Muchdi's number, before and after Munir's death, and that there had
been multiple calls between Pollycarpus' and Muchdi's personal mobile
numbers.

Muchdi, a former head of the Indonesian Army's Special Forces,
resigned from the State Intelligence Body in 2005. He declined two
requests from the team to appear for questioning. He has denied making
calls to Pollycarpus, alleging that his phone may have been used by
someone else.

Pollycarpus was found guilty of premeditated conspiracy to murder and
sentenced to 14 years in prison by a criminal court in Jakarta in
December 2005. The judge noted that the pilot appeared to be part of a
conspiracy and called for investigations.

Yet, no one else has been indicted for the murder. Although
Pollycarpus' verdict was upheld on first appeal last April, his
premeditated 'conspiracy to murder' conviction was quashed by the
Supreme Court with a two-to-one split verdict, on Oct. 3.

That means Pollycarpus is set to walk free in five months. He is
currently serving a two-year sentence for falsifying assignment
documents, which enabled him to board the Garuda airplane on which
Munir was murdered.

Commenting on the apex court's decision, Yudhawiranata said he expected it.

"The verdict is disappointing, yet it is not surprising. The judges
were appointed under the old regime (of the former dictator Suharto)
and this is their way of operating," he said. "It is sad to note that
upholding justice is still difficult in Indonesia," he added.

In the meantime, HRW, followed by a string of other organisations, has
called on Yudhoyono to establish an independent body to audit the
police investigation and the attorney general's response to Munir's
murder and establish why key recommendations and findings of the
fact-finding team appear to have been ignored.

The organisations have also demanded that Indonesia's state
intelligence extend full cooperation to the police and any other
independent investigation body. "The police and the attorney general's
office have steadfastly continued to ignore evidence and
recommendations submitted to them by the Presidential Fact-Finding
Team, which also implicated senior intelligence officers and airline
officials in involvement in the murder," said Brad Adams, Asia
director at HRW. "The truth needs to be uncovered, including who
ordered and planned the killing, no matter where the trail leads," he
added. Gen. Sutanto, head of Indonesia's national police, has promised
that a new investigation will be launched. Yet, when asked whether the
communication between Polycarpus and Muchdi will also become evidence
in the new case, he answered that the conversation lacked substance as
it was not recorded.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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