Jakarta – A solidarity group for murdered human rights activist Munir Said Thalib called on the Supreme Court to reject a case review petition filed by Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the only suspect convicted for the murder of the iconic activist.

The group said this could be part of a plot to exonerate people responsible for the death of Munir, who died aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight on route to Amsterdam in 2004.

"The Supreme Court has to reject, or at least postpone, the case review because this is a threat to efforts finding justice for Munir. Until now, the case remains unclear," Choirul Anam, the executive secretary of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir, also known as KASUM, told reporters on Sunday.

A team of lawyers representing Pollycarpus filed the case review petition to the Central Jakarta District Court two weeks ago. The first hearing session to process the petition will begin on Tuesday.

Former Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court for killing Munir by poisoning him with arsenic. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict, finding him guilty of only falsifying documents and reducing his sentence to two years in jail.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) then filed a case review petition to overturn Pollycarpus' acquittal. The Supreme Court granted the petition in 2008, finding the former pilot guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment.

Activists welcomed the ruling, though they acknowledged that it was not common for the AGO to file a case review petition – a right usually used by a defendant.

Pollycarpus decided to challenge the ruling on the AGO's case review following the acquittal of former top National Intelligence Agency (BIN) officer Muchdi Purwopranjono, the other suspect in the case. Muchdi was cleared of all charges by the South Jakarta District Court in 2008 and the Supreme Court rejected the AGO's appeal on the verdict.

"The Attorney General's promise to file a request for a case review [was filed] to overturn Muchdi's acquittal, but it never happened and this has made the situation even worse," Anam said.

Anam also said that Pollycarpus had given contradictory testimony, which could disrupt the judicial process. "With such a track record, we must be suspicious of facts that will be presented to support his claim in the case review hearing. The evidence could be fabricated."

Attorney Muhammad Assegaf said the inconsistency regrading the charges imposed on his client Pollycarpus was one of the main reasons why he should not be put behind bars.

"The attorney charged Pollycarpus for poisoning Munir, in collaboration with two other stewardesses, with arsenic en route from Jakarta to Singapore, but the judge said that Munir was poisoned in Coffee Bean in Changi Airport, Singapore. Secondly, the attorney also charged Pollycarpus with slipping arsenic into Munir's noodles, but the judge said that the arsenic was put into Munir's orange juice," Assegaf told The Jakarta Post. "Both the crime scene and the chronology appeared to have changed. Based on these differences, the Criminal Law would have stated him not guilty and there is no reason for the judge to punish [Pollycarpus]," Assegaf said.

Assegaf also said that his client would submit new evidence to the panel of judges, but refused to elaborate. "You can find out the novum at Tuesday's hearing," he said. (swd)