Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Fresh evidence has emerged that ties Indonesia's Intelligence Agency (BIN) to the poisoning of a leading human rights activist, Thalib Munir, indicating top officials lied to court hearings about the 2004 murder.
Describing a new dossier of evidence from a senior undercover agent as a "smoking gun", human rights groups today will demand police prosecute the former deputy director for covert operations, Purwoprandjono Muchdi, for perjury and murder.
In a sworn declaration, Agent Budi Santoso said he helped Pollycarpus Priyanto draft a letter to the head of the national airline Garuda, ordering he be assigned to security duties. The letter enabled Priyanto, a former pilot with the carrier, to board a flight to Amsterdam with Munir, then allegedly poison him.
The assignment letter was to be signed by BIN's deputy chief Mohammad As'ad, according to Mr Santoso. He also said that Priyanto was part of BIN's "network" and in regular contact with Mr Muchdi.
"I was often ordered by Muchdi to check on where Pollycarpus was," said Mr Santoso, who was then an operations director with BIN. He also delivered several thousand dollars from Mr Muchdi to Priyanto before and after Mr Munir's murder.
In previous court hearings Priyanto and Mr Muchdi denied knowing each other. Phone records show 41 calls between the pair about the time of the murder, but Mr Muchdi claimed others were using his phone.
The agency's head, Syamsir Siregar, has written to prosecutors saying Mr Santoso could not appear in court as he was on "state duty" overseas.
Mr Santoso's statement was produced only after judges in the murder trial – who are considering fresh charges against Priyanto and the former chief executive of Garuda, Indra Setiawan – suggested they would force him to appear.
Usman Hamid, the head of Mr Munir's human rights organisation, Kontras, said he would meet senior police officers today to demand action on the new evidence.
"Before now BIN denied having links to Pollycarpus; this disproves that," Mr Hamid said. "Mr Muchdi should be summonsed and charged, he clearly had a role in planning the premeditated murder of Munir."
Mr Munir had angered the intelligence and military establishment by exposing corruption and human rights abuses in Aceh and Papua. During a flight to Amsterdam in September 2004 Mr Munir was befriended by Priyanto. The pair visited an airport coffee shop while in transit in Singapore where Mr Munir was poisoned with arsenic.