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Leaked cables lead activists to push for new Munir probe

Activists urged the government to reopen the investigation into the murder of Munir Said Thalib following a revelation by WikiLeaks alleging the involvement of top officials in the murder

Bagus BT Saragih (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, December 20, 2010

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Leaked cables lead activists to push for new Munir probe

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ctivists urged the government to reopen the investigation into the murder of Munir Said Thalib following a revelation by WikiLeaks alleging the involvement of top officials in the murder.

Usman Hamid from the International Center for Transitional Justice said Sunday that the revelation should be followed up with a fresh probe.

“The WikiLeaks revelation is a step is a positive trigger. I call on the government to follow it up by uncovering the facts behind the murder. The authorities should question and investigate all people named in the leaked documents,” he said.

WikiLeaks released a number of US diplomatic cables from the US Embassy in Jakarta, some of which touched on the death of Munir.

Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald reported that some of the cables said American diplomats suspected senior Indonesian intelligence officials had masterminded the murder.

In a cable dated April 2007 and titled “Possible high-level involvement”, officials in Jakarta stated a high-ranking police officer “said to us last December that Hendropriyono is one of the prime suspects”, referring to Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono, the head of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN) at the time of the murder.

Hendropriyono was questioned by police but has never been charged.

The cables stated the BIN had several times tried to kill Munir using different methods, including through a car bomb, sharpshooting, witchcraft and black magic. “Several attempts failed before Munir was killed by poison en route to Amsterdam in October 2004,” the cables stated.

US diplomats also had doubts that the Indonesian police would prosecute the masterminds behind the murder, the cables added.

Usman, who was a member of the murder probe fact-finding team formed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2005, said the leaked cables confirmed the team’s findings, which also pointed to the involvement of top BIN officials.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar said the WikiLeaks’ revelations were not new. “However, these cables will definitely refresh the case. Today the perpetrators must be restless and the government is cornered,” he said.

Munir was a former Kontras coordinator. He was fatally poisoned on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. He was a vocal critic of the Indonesian Military and intelligence officials, accusing them of kidnapping and murdering civilians and activists.

The most senior BIN figure charged in connection with the murder was BIN deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono. Muchdi was acquitted of all charges by the South Jakarta District Court in December 2008.

In December 2005, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot, to 14 years in prison for his part in the murder. Two years later, following a case review requested by the Attorney General’s Office, the Supreme Court extended his sentence to 20 years.

No BIN officials were available for comment on Sunday. Hendropriyono has repeatedly denied the accusations.

A lawyer representing Muchdi, Lutfi Hakim, denied all allegations contained by the cables. He said the leaked cables were without merit and would not affect the Munir case.

“The WikiLeaks cables are only judgments and not facts,” he was quoted as saying by news portal vivanews.com.

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