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Rights body to examine Muchdi verdict
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plans to review a court verdict in which former top spy Muchdi Purwopranjono was acquitted of all charges in the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib
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The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plans to review a court verdict in which former top spy Muchdi Purwopranjono was acquitted of all charges in the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
The move comes as public suspicion grows that the verdict was part of a political machination allegedly cooked up by the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and law enforcers to get Muchdi off the hook.
Observers point to the retractions of testimonies by witnesses from the BIN, of which Muchdi was once a deputy chief, to back up the allegations.
"We will discuss the urgency of examining the verdict at our next plenary meeting. The results of the 'public examination' will be presented to the Supreme Court as a recommendation," Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasim said Friday at a press conference.
"We have acknowledged there was a game played by BIN agents during the Muchdi trial, in which they retracted the testimonies they had given to the police."
Strangely, Ifdhal added, this unusual circumstance was overlooked by the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court when considering the verdict handed down Wednesday.
During Muchdi's trial, BIN agents Kawan, Zondhy Anwar and Arifin Rahman revoked their testimonies, as did BIN employees Suradi and Imam Mustopha.
Another witness, BIN agent Budi Santoso, failed to turn up at the trial despite dozens of summons filed by prosecutors.
"The police investigated this case for more than a year. This shows how careful they were in handling it," Ifdhal said.
"But the moves made by those BIN agents rendered all that hard work meaningless. The Supreme Court must see what's behind this when examining the verdict."
Prosecutors say they are preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court against the district court ruling.
Legal expert and legislator Yasonna Laoly, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), expressed similar views, saying the retractions could indicate intervention by certain parties.
"The Supreme Court should consider this when examining the verdict. It's strange that so many witnesses from the BIN all did the same thing," he said.
"The public has long lost its trust in the Supreme Court. Handling the Munir case seriously would be a good opportunity for it to boost its image."
University of Indonesia legal expert Topo Santoso said rescinding testimonies was normal in trials, but added the judges should have further investigated the slew of retractions.
He also said prosecutors could use the appeal to argue for evidence that had been dismissed by the judges from the verdict.
"Prosecutors can outline the evidence ignored by the district court judges, so the Supreme Court judges can find and examine any failings," Topo said.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, a legislator on the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, criticized the judges for only considering the formal evidence in making their decision for Muchdi.
The judges, she went on, should have considered the material evidence, or that not presented by prosecutors but still appearing during the trial.
"This resulted in an unfair verdict. Note that all this time, those punished for human rights abuses in this country have only been the perpetrators, never the masterminds," she said.
