Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The National Police said Friday it would expedite the probe into the 2004 murder of leading human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib by seeking hard evidence rather than focusing on confusing witness testimony.
"The police's crime unit division head has instructed a team under the transnational crime unit division to expedite and maximize the investigation," police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paulus Purwoko said.
He said the police faced time-consuming technical obstacles in the investigation. "The crime scene where Munir was killed is different from others that provide dozens of witnesses. In Munir's case, we end up questioning the same witnesses over and over again."
Munir was poisoned on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands on Sept. 7, 2004. "We only have the flight attendant and the passengers as witnesses," Purwoko said.
He added that the investigation could no longer rely on witnesses who had chosen to remain silent about the murder. They also have been unable to secure information from Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for lacing Munir's drink with arsenic. "We believe that he knows all his contacts," Purwoko said.
Pollycarpus, who plead not guilty, allegedly made telephone contact with a former senior National Intelligence Agency (BIN) official before and after the killing.
Munir's counterpart at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid, believed Munir's assassination was a conspiracy involving Garuda and BIN officers.
A fact-finding team established by the President has concluded that evidence suggesting the murder was conducted in a conspiracy involving BIN. The agency has denied the allegation.
National Police chief Gen. Sutanto also has said the case will be difficult to resolve if Pollycarpus, who some believe was an intelligence agent, refuses to cooperate. Purwoko said the police would now try to obtain information from other sources besides Pollycarpus, such as expert witnesses.
During Thursday's commemoration of the second anniversary of Munir's death, hundreds of activists urged the government to form a new team immediately to probe the case. Munir's widow Suciwati said she would write to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ask that the team have the authority to summon all people suspected of involvement in the murder.
Kontras also filed a lawsuit against Garuda for "negligence" leading to Munir's death. "Garuda has failed to protect its consumers, in this case Munir," Kontras' lawyer Asfinawati of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said Thursday.
Suciwati and Usman have traveled to several European countries to seek international support to push the government to speed up the probe. Usman said that some Dutch parliament members were scheduled to visit Indonesia this month to meet government officials, lawmakers and human rights activists.
Kun Angkana, the wife of missing Thai Muslim activist Somchai Neelaphaijit, met with Suciwati at Kontras' office last month to give her support for the investigation.