Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief, whose name has come up in connection to the murder of human rights campaigner Munir, has gone on the defensive, telling lawmakers he has nothing to hide.
Accompanied by his lawyers, Muchdi Purwopranjono met House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono on Thursday to appeal to lawmakers not to be "influenced by opinions from certain parties" linking him to the murder.
"I feel like I've been treated unfairly by unbalanced reports. I've tried to stay calm in the hope that (the allegations) would fade away with the end of the (Munir murder) trial. But they didn't," he told a news conference after the meeting.
Wearing sunglasses, Muchdi said he had to speak up for the sake of his family. "I've never talked to as many journalists as this today, even when I was a regional military commander," he said.
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to 14 years' jail in December for Munir's murder. Pollycarpus was found guilty of lacing the food served to Munir with a lethal dose of arsenic during a Garuda flight to Amsterdam from Jakarta in September 2004.
The court noted that Pollycarpus had made frequent phone calls to former BIN officers, including to Muchdi's cell phone, in the days before the murder. When questioned in court, Muchdi testified he had lent out his phone to other members of the agency and could not remember the calls.
An independent team investigating Munir's murder found evidence that BIN agents were involved in the murder. The court when sentencing Pollycarpus called for the "masterminds" of the attack to be put on trial.
Muchdi said his Thursday meeting with Agung was to discuss "the case involving myself lately". He pointed to a newspaper, which ran an article alleging that he had contacted Munir before he died. "I swear to God, I didn't know Munir. I never phoned him. What more should I say?" he said.
Mahendradatta, a lawyer for Muchdi, said he and his client had urged Agung to tell legislators not to give into the growing "public opinion" that Muchdi should answer to the law.
"If there are (people) who are not satisfied (with the Munir trial's verdict), please file a legal motion. Otherwise, we will file one against them. It is only a matter of time. Don't attack our client," he said while looking at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) chairman Usman Hamid, who attended the press briefing.
Kontras, which was co-founded by Munir, his widow, Suciwati, and other human rights activists have been pressing the authorities to arrest the masterminds of Munir's murder.
Speaking after the conference, Usman said he and his colleagues had never used baseless arguments in their bid to uncover the conspiracy behind the murder, which has drawn international attention. "It has all been stated in the court verdict," he said.
Munir was a staunch critic of the government and the military's poor human rights records. He was found dead aboard the Garuda flight on Sept. 7, 2004. A Dutch autopsy later found an excessive amount of arsenic in his body.