human rights watchdog urged the government to establish an independent team to solve the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib in the wake of the 12th anniversary of his death, activists said on Tuesday.
Despite the perpetrator having been sentenced, the mastermind behind it still remains a mystery, executive director of human rights group Imparsial Al Araf said.
"The revelation of Munir's murder case must be a pivotal agenda in President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla's administration that had once declared to solve past human rights violations," he said.
Moreover, Imparsial also pushed for the government to reveal along with a follow-up the summarized report of the fact-finding team established by then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004.
Gufron Mabruri of Imparsial said the settlement and final revelation in Munir's case would deliver a strong message of protection for human rights defenders across the country.
Munir, a prominent human rights activist and the founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) died after being poisoned aboard an airplane from Indonesia to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004.
Former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in 2008 for the murder but was released on parole in 2014 after only serving six years of his sentence. Meanwhile, former deputy chief of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, who was accused of being involved in the case, was acquitted of all charges in late 2011. (wnd/rin)
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