Jakarta – Lawyers representing Suciwati, the widow of murdered rights activist Munir Said Thalib, expressed hope Friday that the police would come up with substantial new evidence to reopen the 2004 murder case.
Chief lawyer Hendardi said the current team of police investigators had shown a strong commitment to resolving the case. The new group is led by the head of the National Police's Criminal Detectives Agency, Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.
"We now have high hopes since, unlike the previous team, which was led by an officer at the division-head level, this team is led by the head of the Criminal Detectives Agency himself," Hendardi said as quoted by Detikcom news portal.
Suciwati, accompanied by Hendardi and rights activist Rafendi Jamin, held a one-hour meeting with officer Bambang at National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta.
Munir was found dead in a Garuda Indonesia aircraft on his way from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. An autopsy conducted by Dutch authorities on Oct. 13, 2004 showed that Munir had died from arsenic poisoning.
A team from Police Headquarters identified Pollycarpus Budi Haripriyanto, an off-duty Garuda pilot, as the person who put the arsenic in a drink Munir consumed on board the Garuda plane. Pollycarpus was sitting next to Munir during the flight.
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Pollycarpus to 14 years in jail. The Supreme Court exonerated him of the murder charges, however, and reduced his sentence to two years for using falsified documents. Pollycarpus was released from jail after receiving a three-month remission.
Responding to strong public criticism over these developments, the Attorney's General Office ordered a reinvestigation of the case and asked the police to look for new evidence.
Hendardi said the head of the new team was unable to give an update on the investigation yet, while hinting that the information was in the hands of National Police chief Gen. Sutanto.
"But we have agreed to hold a routine biweekly meeting between Kasum (the Solidarity Action Front for Munir) and the police to monitor progress," he said.
Gen. Sutanto said in Washington DC on Thursday that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will give technical assistance to the Indonesian government in the effort to solve the mystery behind the death of Munir.
"This is technical cooperation, and not cooperation in investigating the case... It will include information technology and forensic services to solve problems in communication technology and also to examine Munir's internal organs," Sutanto said.
Sutanto returned from a five-day visit to the US on Thursday. There, he met with Federal Bureau of Investigation head Robert S. Mueller, Central Intelligence Agency director Michael V. Hayden, and head of the Drug Enforcement Administration Karen Tandy.