Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must make public a report by a presidential fact-finding team into the murder of human rights activist Munir, the leadership of the organization he cofounded says.

"By making the results public, the President will make his political position clear – that he endorses the results and the recommendations of the fact-finding team," said Asmara Nababan, a former team member who is on the board of the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

The calls followed the Supreme Court's exoneration of the sole suspect in the murder, Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. Judges cut Pollycarpus' jail term from 14 to two years because they ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him of poisoning Munir in September 2004.

Asmara said a presidential decree setting up the team authorized Yudhoyono to make the results public. Announcing the results is "an obligation for the government", he said and the President would be held accountable if the team's recommendations were not followed up.

Set up by the President on Dec. 23, 2004, the team submitted a report on the murder in June last year. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng earlier said making public the team's report was unnecessary because part of the document had already been leaked to the public.

Kontras has also recommended the government review the police's investigation of the Munir case and set up a new fact-finding team with the power to direct future police probes. The President has instead revived the former police team led by Brig. Gen. Surya Dharma Nasution, a move criticized by activists as ineffectual.

Kontras board chairman Ibrahim Zakir said the organization also supported the plan by Munir's widow, Suciwati, to bring the case to the United Nations Council of Human Rights. Suciwati leaves for the United States on Friday on the invitation of the Human Rights First group to receive an award for Munir and to lobby the US Congress.

On Tuesday, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bahrul Alam defended the reappointment of Surya to head the investigation. Surya, who heads the transnational crimes division at the National Police, is the "best man" for the job, Anton said.

He was earlier replaced as chairman of the fact-finding team by Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi, now South Sumatra deputy police chief. In his follow-up to the investigation, Surya will first "check on all the evidence and witnesses," Anton said.

Every two weeks the team is obliged to report progress made in the investigation to National Police chief Gen. Sutanto, who then notifies the President. Sutanto said the team's progress investigating the case would likely depend on the cooperation of Pollycarpus.

An earlier court that convicted Pollycarpus for murder found evidence of frequent calls from his cell phone to one owned by a former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy director Muchdi before the murder. He and other former BIN officials have denied involvement in the murder.