The trial of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the murder last September of Indonesia's foremost human rights activist Munir, which commenced in Jakarta today, is clearly designed to detract attention from the real reasons for the crime which brought to a tragic end the life of a man who had shown outstanding courage in exposing atrocities and human rights violations perpetrated by agents and organs of the Indonesian state, in particular the armed forces.
No one doubts that Pollycarpus, a Garuda pilot who was on board Garuda Flight 974 which departed from Jakarta on 7 September last year, was part of the conspiracy which led to Munir's death. It has also been well established that Munir died after drinking a beverage laced with arsenic served to him during the first leg of the flight, after he had been persuaded by Pollycarpus to move to a business class seat early on in the flight. The role of Pollycarpus was clearly revealed by the Fact-Finding Commission set up by President Yudhoyono which worked diligently for six months, interviewing numerous possible witnesses. It is also well known that Pollycarpus made several contacts and phone-calls to Munir's home and spoke to his wife Suciwati to ascertain that Munir would be on the flight, thus helping to create the conditions for the murder to take place. But he was nothing more than an accessory to the crime for which he should be duly punished.
After months of painstaking investigations, the Fact-Finding Team came to the conclusion that Munir was the victim of a conspiracy. However, there were certain individuals who sought to vilify the activities of the Team and refused several times to respond to its summons for questioning.
During the final stages of its investigations, the Team was confronted by the stubborn refusal of a senior retired military officer Lt.General Hendropriyono, who was head of BIN, the state intelligence agency, at the time of the murder to appear for questioning.
The Team also established that Pollycarpus was in close and regular contact with BIN during the days preceding the murder and was also able to establish that he was a BIN agent. However, these facts are, according to press reports in Jakarta today, not even mentioned in the indictment.
As the deputy chief of the Team, Asmara Nababan stated in Jakarta today: 'We concluded that the murder was a conspiracy and Pollycarpus (was) a small element in the case. He is just a scapegoat.'
Legal experts and commentators in Jakarta have drawn the conclusion that the case against Pollycarpus is bound to fail as the indictment fails to explain satisfactorily what his motives were, apart from alleging that the he had for years been involved in activities in support of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and considered Munir to be 'an annoyance ... causing problems for the implementation of (State) programmes'. With such a flimsy indictment, it is more than likely that the panel of judges will be persuaded by the defence team to refuse to allow the trial to proceed.
Ever since it was first established that Munir was murdered, TAPOL has called for the true perpetrators of this crime to be brought to justice.
The trial which started in Jakarta today will fail ignominiously to achieve this.
As soon as it was clear that Munir had been murdered, President Yudhoyono, after agreeing to the creation of the Fact-Finding Team, referred to the investigation as 'a test case for whether Indonesia has changed'. The trial which started today is far removed from making a break with the past and the dead weight of impunity which has for years shielded senior officers from facing justice.
The President must act immediately to call a halt to this travesty of justice. Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL said today: 'President Yudhoyono should publish the report of the Fact-Finding Team without delay and use his powers to ensure that the true perpetrators of the murder of Munir are brought to justice. Without such action, Indonesia's claim to be a state based on the rule of law will continue to be derided as utterly false.'