Police on Friday handed over to prosecutors new evidence relating to the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso said after meeting with prosecutors at the Attorney General's Office that the new evidence implicated Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the only person to have faced charges over the murder of Munir. Pollycarpus was later exonerated by the Supreme Court.
"This is new evidence that will be used to charge him under Article 340," Bambang was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal. Article 340 of the Criminal Code pertains to premeditated murder.
Bambang said the new evidence would not be used against two senior Garuda Indonesia officials recently identified by their initials as IS and R.
It has been widely speculated that the two officials are former Garuda president director Indra Setiawan and president director of corporate security Ramelgia Anwar. On Thursday, however, Bambang said that suspect R was a woman and not Ramelgia.
Munir was a critic of the Indonesian Military (TNI), accusing it of rights violations in the troubled provinces of Aceh and Papua, and of running a network involved in illegal logging and drug smuggling. Following his death, Munir's widow reported receiving anonymous threats demanding she not implicate the TNI in her husband's death.
Munir was found dead Sept. 7, 2004, on the GA 974 Garuda flight to the Netherlands, which included a stop-over in Singapore.
Pollycarpus's lawyer, M. Assegaf, said his client could not be charged again in the same case.
In related developments, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the Indonesian government would be ready to face an inquiry into Munir's death from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
"We are prepared, whatever the questions are, with or without a special session," the ministry's director for international security and disarmament, Desra Percaya, was quoted by Antara as saying.
Desra also dismissed criticism that Indonesia's foot-dragging over the Munir case could jeopardize the country's credibility as a member of the UN council.