Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The widow of murdered human rights campaigner Munir is planning to lobby American and United Nations officials to help her pressure the Indonesian government to uncover the mystery behind the death of her husband.
Suciwati has been invited by Human Rights First (HRF) to New York and Washington D.C. to receive a human rights award for her deceased husband. She will depart Thursday night and return home on Oct. 23.
"I will lobby our friends at the U.S congress and the United Nations as well to press the Yudhoyono government to move ahead with the investigation," she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The HRF will facilitate her meeting with US Senators and Congress members. Suciwati is scheduled to also attend a UN general assembly to discuss the case.
"We will address the failure of the Indonesian authority in resolving the Munir case," Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence coordinator Usman Hamid told the Post. He will accompany Suciwati on the visit.
The investigation in Munir's death was set back by the Supreme Court decision to quash the murder conviction of Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the sole suspect. Munir was poisoned with arsenic on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Singapore in 2004.
Usman said that Indonesia was a part of the UN council and needed to show its commitment to serving justice for its citizens in line with the international convents it had ratified.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to enforce the law seriously in the country. But the fact shows that Indonesian authorities have failed to disclose this case," he said.
From June 28 to July 5, Usman and Suciwati traveled to the Netherlands and Belgium and met with European Commission representatives to seek support for the disclosure of the details of the Munir murder case.
Their efforts were not fruitless. European Commission president Manuel Baroso questioned Yudhoyono about Munir's murder while the two were attending an Asia-Europe meeting last month.
Yudhoyono later made assurances that the probe would continue and ordered National Police chief Gen. Sutanto to revitalize the investigation team. "We will continue seeking international support. If we can't find justice here, we'll try to find it somewhere else," Usman said.
Meanwhile, the Central Jakarta District Court opened Monday the trial of a lawsuit filed by Suciwati against PT Garuda Indonesia for negligence leading to the poisoning death of her husband. She is demanding US$1.4 million in damages for the negligence. Her lawyer, Choirul Anam, alleged that Garuda was guilty of negligence so gross it was "nearly deliberate".
He said the lawsuit was aimed at revealing an alleged conspiracy involving the national carrier in the death of Munir. "The police have failed to reveal the involvement of Garuda in the killing," Choirul said.
In the lawsuit, it is stated that Garuda was negligent in giving Munir a seat other than what was stated on his boarding pass and failing to make sure that the food and drink served to its customers was safe.
Garuda are also faulted in the lawsuit for not banning Pollycarpus, who used fake documents to get on the same flight as Munir, and for its poor treatment of Munir when he fell ill during the flight. The suit mentions 11 people linked to Garuda, including Pollycarpus, as defendants.
Garuda lawyer Wirawan Adnan denied the accusations, saying it was impossible for the airline and its officials to have been involved in the assassination. The trial is adjourned until Oct. 30.