F

ollowing his pledge to combat what many call the court mafia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been urged to push forward a case review against former top intelligence official Muchdi Purwopranjono in the murder case of noted rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

The Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) expressed its concern here Tuesday that the case review might never be filed in court, with the Attorney General's Office (AGO) continually "delaying" the filing.

"This *delay* illustrates how the murder case of Cak Munir has been engineered in such a way that only Pollycarpus can be convicted as the murderer, while no master-minds can be touched," Kasum secretary-general Choirul Anam said.

Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former pilot of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has been jailed for 20 years for Munir's murder.

Evidence presented in his trial, of more than 40 phone calls between him and Muchdi, had pointed to the possibility of the latter allegedly masterminding the murder in 2004.

Choirul considers Yudhoyono's recent intervening in the alleged framing against two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairmen Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, with his establishment of the fact-finding team to investigate the case, a success.

He said Kasum hoped the President could similarly do something with the case review against Muchdi, given the suspicion of possible court mafia practices in the AGO's slow handling of the case.

Yudhoyono had earlier announced that combating court mafia practices was part of his new government's first 100-day program.

"We have since the beginning asked *the President* to make the Munir case a main priority; not just for the sake of combating court mafia, but also to carry out reforms in the legal sector," Chairul said.

The continually delayed filing of the appeal, he added, is feared to be part of an effort to weaken and eventually freeze the case.

The South Jakarta District Court acquitted Muchdi in late December last year, after which prosecutors filed an appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision.

In June, however, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, saying the prosecutors failed to convince the panel of justices that there had been any mistake behind Muchdi's acquittal.