Ulma Haryanto – A leading human rights watchdog is worried the Attorney General's Office could be deliberately stalling the case review of a Supreme Court ruling in the murder case of a prominent activist.

The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) said on Sunday that the AGO had vowed to challenge the top court's June 2009 ruling that rejected an appeal by prosecutors against the acquittal of former spy chief Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

"We had a meeting recently with the Deputy Attorney for General Crimes [Hamzah Tadja], and he told us he had not received a copy of the Supreme Court ruling," said Poengky Indarti, executive director of Imparsial.

Muchdi, a former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief, was cleared in 2008 of charges that he ordered the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004. His alleged motive was revenge for criticism by Munir of his past leadership at the army's elite Special Forces unit (Kopassus).

"It is very strange that now they say they haven't even received the ruling. They told us that once they received it, they would study it, but even so they could not promise anything," Poengky said.

She added that lawyers representing Munir's relatives received a copy of the rejection of the appeal against Muchdi's acquittal in late 2009.

Pollycarpus Budi Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot, was sentenced to 20 years for the murder. However, the motives or the masterminds behind it remain unproven in court. Choirul Anam, a member of the Committee of Action and Solidarity for Munir (Kasum), said he suspected there were problems with the assignment of the Munir case at the AGO.

"As far as I know, Munir's case was a general crimes case. In February, though, we met with the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes [Andhi Nirwanto]," Choirul said.

He added that he was worried the AGO was being deceitful. "In previous meetings, they always said that they would support us, that they are going to finish the case as soon as possible and that they supported our cause. Now we have reason to start doubting their words."

In April, Deputy Attorney General Darmono said his office had no immediate plans to file a case review against Muchdi.