Jakarta – A former top official of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and key witness in the Munir Said Thalib murder case, Vice Adm. Bijah Subjanto, has died in China, succumbing to prostate cancer.

Tempointeraktif.com news portal reported that Bijah died in a hospital in the city of Guangzhou on Friday afternoon after receiving treatment there for the past month.

Bijah was the BIN's former deputy for information and technology, and reportedly knew of the plan to kill Munir. During his testimony, which helped convict Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, Bijah said he had invited Munir to discuss some political matters, but denied being involved in the case.

Human rights activist Munir died of arsenic poisoning on board a flight to Amsterdam in September 2004. The South Jakarta District Court found former Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus guilty of direct involvement in poisoning Munir and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.