Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court refused on Wednesday a request to postpone the detainment of former president director of Garuda Indonesia Indra Setiawan, who is being tried in the murder of a prominent human rights activist.

Indra, who faces a 14-year jail term should he be convicted, has been held at the National Police headquarters since April for his alleged involvement in the murder of Munir Said Thalib.

Indra and Rohainil Aini, a former secretary to Garuda's chief pilot, have both charged with premeditated murder.

Rohainil is also charged with forgery as she allegedly provided fake documents allowing acquitted suspect Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to board Munir's flight under the pretense of being an aviation security officer.

Munir was poisoned with arsenic on Sept. 7, 2004, during a flight to Amsterdam that included a stop in Singapore.

"Pak Indra has been detained for more than 180 days so he was requesting the court's approval to postpone his detainment temporarily," a lawyer for Indra, Antawirya J. Dipodiputro told The Jakarta Post. "But apparently the court rejected our request without a clear explanation."

In the second session of the trial on Wednesday, presiding judge Heru Pramono said the court still needed Indra to be in detention. "We don't know what this statement implies," Antawirya said.

In the previous trial session, Indra's lawyers said that prosecutors did not have a strong legal basis to detain and prosecute Indra as Pollycarpus had been acquitted of his murder charges by the Supreme Court in October 2006.

The prosecutors, however, told the court that they had met all the requirements for a valid indictment and told the judges to continue the trial. The judges will rule whether or not to continue the trial on Oct. 31.

Rohainil is being tried separately. She will appear on Thursday, when the defense's statements will be heard.