Jakarta – Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has responded to mounting pressure to "take responsibility" for investigation files on the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, which are believed to have been lost during his administration.
Munir died on-board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam in September 2004, a month before Yudhoyono was inaugurated as president.
"When human rights activist Munir died, I was still a presidential candidate," Yudhoyono said via his official Twitter account on Sunday evening (23/10). Yudhoyono said his administration had formed a fact-finding team to look into Munir's case.
Last week, human rights activist group Setara Institute said the former president must take responsibility for losing the documents relating to the Munir's case.
"As related to the documents on Munir's case that was missing from the files of the secretariat of the state, Indonesia's sixth president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, should take responsibility as the fact-finding team was founded and worked for him in 2005," Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of Setara Institute, said.
Yudhoyono replied in a series of tweets, saying he would "choose to restrain himself and not react," and promised to provide statements in the near future.
Saya memilih menahan diri & tak reaktif dlm tanggapi berbagai tudingan.Ini masalah yg penting & sensitif. Jg soal kebenaran & keadilan *SBY*– S. B. Yudhoyono (@SBYudhoyono) October 23, 2016
Munir was murdered with a lethal dose of arsenic poison during a flight to Amsterdam, Sept. 7, 2004. Several suspects have been tried in the case, including former pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto, who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, and former cabin crew member Rohainil Aini, who was jailed for a year.
However, the alleged mastermind behind the murder, former deputy of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, was freed following his second appeal. Munir's case reemerged after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo declined to reopen the case.