Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office will proceed with its investigation and disregard the recent public statement made by Raymond "Ongen" Latuihamallo, one of the key witnesses in the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
"Ongen's statement in the media will not affect the investigative substance of the police's official report," Attorney General's Office spokesman Salman Maryadi told reporters Thursday.
Ongen said on Wednesday that he saw Munir with a man at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cafe during a transit stop at Changi Airport, Singapore, prior to continuing the flight to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. "I saw Munir with a man... but I did not know who the man was."
The police had previously questioned Ongen as a witness for the first time on March 30 this year. The police questioned him again upon his return from the Netherlands on May 16.
When asked whether Ongen's public statement differed from his previous testimony in front of the police, Salman said "You may (conclude this)... but the AGO will continue to use the materials already presented by the police. Ongen's statement is by nature his own denial of a report by a news magazine published in Jakarta." the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, coordinator of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Rafendi Djamin said Thursday that Ongen had the right to defend himself. "What matters is law enforcement must not stop due to an attempt to shape public opinion," Rafendi told journalists on the sidelines of a public hearing with Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Human Rights Defenders Hina Jilani here.
Suciwati, Munir's wife, said she was still convinced that the key witnesses were a pilot with national carrier Garuda Indonesia, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, and one of the directors of the National Intelligence Agency, Muchdi Purwopranjono.
"The police have mentioned Ongen as a key witness. Is that only because he saw there was someone with Munir? I think that is not enough... Don't distract from the focus of this case," she said.
On Thursday, National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Dhanuri handed over additional materials on the review of the Munir case to Attorney General Hendarman Supandji and Junior Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim Ritonga. "We cannot reveal the content of the materials, because they will be examined by the AGO investigation team first," Salman said.
The police had previously named two suspects in the Munir case: former president director of Garuda Indonesia Indra Setiawan and secretary to Garuda's chief pilot Rohainil Aini.
Pollycarpus, who was cleared of the murder charges in 2006, was summoned to testify against the two suspects on Thursday, but did not give testimony as his child was ill.