Jakarta – No matter what verdict is delivered in the murder trial of prominent Indonesian rights activist Munir on Friday, activists and legal experts say the true mastermind may never face justice.
Their fear comes despite Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge to do everything in his power to solve the shock poisoning death in September last year of the popular campaigner, who died aged just 38.
The Central Jakarta district court will decide whether an off-duty Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto slipped arsenic into the orange juice of Munir after swapping his seat with him during a flight to Amsterdam.
Priyanto, who faces a possible life sentence if found guilty of premeditated murder, has professed his innocence.
"Whatever the verdict, it will not shed light on who the masterminds were and why he was killed," said Munarman, the head of the respected Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. The prosecutors have only vaguely cited Priyanto's sense of patriotism being ruffled by Munir's work as a motive for the murder.
Munir was a dynamic activist who began work in the 1990s, providing legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence and repression during Suharto's rule. He was also a driving force behind an investigation that exposed military involvement in human rights violations during East Timor's 1999 independence vote.
Munarman said more concerning than the trial's outcome was the fact that Yudhoyono has yet to make public the report and recommendations of an independent fact-finding team he established to help police probe the case.
The team, whose mandate ended in June, had the power to question witnesses, but several key witnesses including two top ranking officers of the state intelligence agency declined to cooperate.
Team members said that Priyanto made several telephone calls to members of the intelligence agency before and after the murder.
"I suspect the government appears reluctant to make it public because the report contains names of involved individuals which the government does not want to divulge," Munarman told AFP.
Police have so far only named three suspects: Priyanto and cabin crew members Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiarti, who are accused of being accessories. The trial of the latter two has yet to begin.
"Those who are responsible for the planning and implementation of Munir's death have not yet been found," Munarman alleged. Police have also said they will halt the probe into the Munir case as the culprits are thought to have been nabbed, he added.
Rachland Nasyidik of rights group Imparsial and a member of the fact-finding team, said that after the verdict "the investigation will return to zero, but this time with no hope of the case ever being unravelled".
He told AFP that he and another team member were facing a libel suit filed by the former chief of the intelligence agency, Abdullah Hendropriyono, as a result of seeking to question him. He refused. The team's head meanwhile has been removed from his posting at the national police detective's department to become an advisor to the national police chief, a less prestigious post.
"The process will end with the verdicts and if past experiences could be used as yardsticks, the suspects could even go free on appeal later," Rasyidik warned.
Johnson Panjaitan, executive director of the Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, said that Yudhoyono's reluctance to make the team's report public was in itself highly suspicious.
"This all fits into the larger scenario of closing the lid over the case," Panjaitan said. "I see the verdict as the last door that will close the way leading to a disclosure of what had really happened."
Activists have seen the case as a test of Yudhoyono's dedication to ensuring the rule of law, as Indonesia slowly emerges from the shadow of Suharto's 32-year rule when the military could eliminate enemies with impunity.