[Kabar-indonesia] 2 Tempo Munir Reports: Opinion: Back to Zero [+Pollycarpus 'Walks']

[Joyo at aol.com]

2 Tempo Magazine Reports: 

- Opinion: Back to Zero 

- Dark Clouds Over the Munir Case 

Tempo Magazine
No. 06/VII
Oct 10-16, 2006 

Opinion 

Back to Zero 

Pollycarpus will soon be released. Not a single person in 
this republic can be certain that the real killer will be caught. 

"HOW can it be proven if nobody tries to prove it?" 

Despair, pain, bitterness. This is the impression one gets from comments made 
by Suciwati, widow of Munir, the poisoned human rights activist, after the 
Supreme Court sentenced Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the alleged killer, to a 
mere two-year imprisonment. On September 7, 2004, Munir died on a Garuda 
airplane taking him from Singapore to the Netherlands. 

Suci's reaction is not excessive. She has been fighting for two years to 
uncover the forces behind the cruel murder. She feels pain when her two children, 
8-year-old Alif and 4-year-old Dica, ask for their father: "I miss Dad." She 
managed to push the President into setting up a fact-finding team to 
investigate her husband's death. She continuously seeks support from overseas. 

The trials eased the pain somewhat. The two lower courts found Pollycarpus, a 
Garuda pilot, guilty and sentenced him to 14 years. But the Supreme Court 
reduced the sentence, making Pollycarpus eligible for release in six months' 
time. Merely by tinkering with the charge sheet, without asking for a special 
session, the judges were convinced that Pollycarpus had not been proved guilty of 
the murder. Only Supreme Court judge Artidjo Alkostar disagreed with the 
lighter sentence and offered a dissenting opinion. 

The other judges decided that Pollycarpus was only guilty of falsifying his 
assignment papers. This in itself is strange. Pollycarpus had clearly chosen 
that flight because Munir was on it. The proof of this is that he falsified the 
work order, something he would not have needed to do had he been officially 
tasked by Garuda to fly to Singapore. He was also known to have moved Munir from 
the economy class seat to one in business class. He wandered to and fro 
throughout the flight. But the efforts to find out how the arsenic got into Munir's 
body were not thorough and the charges were far from strong. 

The problem is not only Pollycarpus and the Supreme Court verdict. Since the 
beginning of the case there was the impression that it has been dealt with 
half-heartedly, and hastily. The forces of law and order seem to have been after 
only one suspect, namely Pollycarpus. 

However, had the investigation been more thorough, there are a number of 
people who might have been named suspects. As a result of this, once Pollycarpus 
is released, there will be no other suspects. And Pollycarpus cannot be 
bothered again because of the principle of ne bis in idem-no one can be tried twice 
for the same crime. 

The impression that the case has been handled "half-heartedly" is bound to 
stick if prosecutors fail to follow up on a key fact that there were 41 phone 
calls between Pollycarpus and a cellular phone owned by Muchdi Purwoprandjono, 
the former fifth deputy at the State Intelligence Agency. If the owner of the 
phone number says that anybody could have used his cell-phone, proof is needed 
as to who had the nerve to use the phone without the general's knowledge. It 
is not possible that an answerphone had 41 conversations with Pollycarpus. 

Efforts to find Munir's killer have gone back to zero. The attorney general 
has already announced that he is not going to ask for a review of the Supreme 
Court verdict. 

So, if President Yudhoyono says he wants to revitalize the Munir fact-finding 
team, and the National Police Chief promises to reopen the Munir case, we 
hope these are not just empty words to show that the government is doing 
something. Whatever the team to be formed, it will find difficulty in getting to the 
bottom of this murder mystery. It will have to look for new suspects and new 
evidence in a case stretching back two years. But if there is a will, there will 
be a way. 

If Munir's killer can be caught, President Yudhoyono will deserve to win the 
Nobel prize. On the Nobel stage, he could invite Munir's two children to 
receive the prize that will become a milestone in this new era of law and order. 
 
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Tempo Magazine
No. 06/VII
Oct 10-16, 2006 

Law 

Dark Clouds Over the Munir Case 

The National Police Chief sets up a new Munir 
case investigating team after Pollycarpus 'walks.' 

THE murder case of human rights activist Munir ended up obscure. Everything 
returns to zero. Months were spent on a probe into the ruthless murder of the 
39-year-old human rights advocate by poisoning, but now the case is further 
engulfed in mystery. An appeal decision of the Supreme Court on Pollycarpus 
Budihari Priyanto, a Garuda pilot, was the cause. Polly was sentenced to 14 years 
in prison by a district court, which was sustained by the high court. Polly was 
found guilty of involvement in the premeditated murder of Munir on September 
7, 2004, aboard a Garuda airliner flying the Jakarta-Singapore-Amsterdam 
route. 

On Tuesday last week, the judicial appeal panel chaired by Iskandar Kamil 
declared that Polly was not the perpetrator of Munir's murder. He was only guilty 
of falsifying a letter of travel assignment. This wrongdoing, according to 
the panel, was far less severe than killing a man. Therefore, the punishment for 
Polly was slashed from 14 years to only two years in jail. 

But it was not a unanimous decision. Justice Artidjo Alkostar, one of the 
three members of the panel, disagreed with his two colleagues, Iskandar and Atja 
Sondjaja. Artidjo applied the a posteriori principle-analyzing known effects 
to deduce possible causes. Based on the series of facts in the last journey of 
Munir, Artidjo was convinced that Polly had been involved. "There was a 
succession of peculiar acts by the former Garuda pilot before the death of Munir," 
he told Tempo (see interview with Artidjo). 

Still, Artidjo lost his vote. Within six months, Polly will be free. Polly's 
attorney, M. Assegaf, even planned to request that the confinement of his 
client, now occupying detention room C-3 at the National Police HQ, should be 
suspended. "It's because he has served three quarters of his term," said Assegaf. 

The appeal decision constitutes a ticket for Pollycarpus to lead a life of 
full freedom. At least in the case of Munir he must never be brought to trial 
again. "On the basis of the criminal code principle of ne bis in idem, Polly 
cannot be prosecuted for the second time in the same case," said Harkristuti 
Harkrisnowo, an expert on criminal law from the University of Indonesia. 

In the Criminal Code, the principle of ne bis in idem is stipulated in 
Article 76. "So, for Polly, the case is now virtually over," added Harkristuti. 
According to her, even the presence of novum or new evidence will not take him to 
court. "Such evidence cannot eliminate ne bis in idem," she pointed out. 

Suciwati, Munir's wife, was obviously disappointed. "This further shows the 
confusion of our law, which is not on the side of the weak," she said. The 
mother of two is working with a non-governmental organization. Suci was sure that 
Polly was only a pawn in her husband's murder. Consequently, though the court 
of the first level and the high court punished Polly, Suci kept demanding that 
the mastermind of her spouse's killer should be captured. 

With this appeal decision, the government attempt to revitalize the Munir 
case investigating team has triggered the pessimism of many circles. While the 
fact-finding team of the Munir case failed to do much until its dissolution, the 
new team is expected to have the same fate. Pro-human rights groups believe 
that Munir's killing involved powerful men. "The commitment and serious 
attitude of the President will be useful to uncover this case," said Asmara Nababan, 
deputy head of the fact-finding team. 

According to Asmara, his team once requested the President to audit 
investigators from the police for their less than optimal performance. Asmara cited 
Polly's phone contact with a high-ranking State Intelligence Agency (BIN) 
official as an example. "The phone number of the one in touch with Pollycarpus was 
never seriously traced," he noted. Asmara also regretted the President's lack of 
prompt response to the team's recommendations. One of them concerned the 
team's failure to reach maximum capacity due to BIN's limitation. "If the 
President approved this recommendation, the head of BIN should have been replaced," he 
added. 

National Police Chief, Gen. Sutanto, apparently wanted to avoid any public 
impression of low working morale among his personnel. On Friday, Sutanto 
announced the dissolution of the former team led by Brig. Gen. Marsudhi Hanafiah and 
formed a new team under Brig. Gen. Suryadharma to investigate Munir's case. 
"This team will search for new evidence," said Sutanto. 

Asmara coolly responded to the changed team. "It's only lip service," he 
remarked. The ex-secretary-general of the National Human Rights Commission was not 
convinced that Suryadharma's team would uncover Munir's killer. "The police 
are facing a big power," he said. In Asmara's view, the President is the only 
one who can unveil the mystery of Munir's demise. "This case indeed depends on 
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," he concluded. -- LRB/Maria Hasugian, 
Abdul Manan 
 
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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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