Former top spy Muchdi Purwopranjono denied he premeditated the 2004 murder of noted human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in court Thursday, and demanded judges acquit him of all charges.

The ex-State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief claimed the 15-year-jail term sought by prosecutors last week was a "devilish decision" as there was no evidence directly linking him to the murder.

"The prosecutors made that conclusion based solely on testimonies from police files, not from what has been presented in this trial," Muchdi's lawyer Wirawan Adnan said, reading from client's rebuttal statement at the South Jakarta District Court.

"The prosecutors also based my client's alleged motive for murder on a statement from Munir's widow Suciwati. This statement did not prove anything," he said.

The prosecutors claim Muchdi sought revenge against Munir because he deemed the latter responsible for his termination as the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) chief just 52 days after his inauguration in 1998.

Munir led an investigation into the abduction of 13 activists critical of the Soeharto government between 1997 and 1998, which revealed the involvement of several Kopassus soldiers grouped under "The Rose Team".

The prosecutors produced documents from the Defense Ministry and newspaper clippings which revealed the TNI chief removed Muchdi as head of Kopassus for his failure to monitor his subordinates.

Muchdi's lawyers said police, prosecutors and activists had been deceived by the "real murderer", who had manipulated the evidence that led to suspicions against his client.

"The real perpetrator has led us to believe the defendant and the BIN are the masterminds behind the murder," Wirawan said.

"Why would a high-profile institution like the BIN implicate itself by leaving traces of evidence around? The BIN would not be that sloppy."

"The real murderer is someone who slipped through the cracks before -- the one we least suspect," Wirawan said. He did not elaborate on his comments.

Muchdi's team of lawyers had earlier accused BIN agent Budi Santoso of being the more likely murderer of Munir.

Budi, a former BIN director, testified to police that former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto had told him Muchdi ordered the pilot to assassinate Munir. Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for his role in the case.

Prosecutors, however, failed to summon Budi to the court, arguing he was in Pakistan on state business and had ignored dozens of requests to testify in the Muchdi trial.

"Isn't it strange that Budi managed to testify on two occasions to the police but fails to ever appear before court? During the Pollycarpus trial, he did the same thing," lawyer Luthfie Hakim said.

"Budi is the only witness in this case who links Muchdi to the murder, but a minimum two witnesses are required to build a case according to the law."

Luthfie also dismissed the prosecutors' claim to possess call data records (CDR) of 41 outgoing and incoming calls between Pollycarpus and Muchdi.

"No one can prove the conversations took place, or even what they were allegedly talking about. The data only shows the phone numbers of Muchdi and Pollycarpus, but fails to prove Muchdi actually ever spoke to Pollycarpus."

The lawyers asked judges to discharge all accusations against their client, citing a lack of evidence.

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