His testimony at the Central Jakarta District Court during Wednesday's hearing was based on the checking of her medical report and the condition of her body after death.

Djaja, who has studied cyanide since the 1990s, said that according to toxicologist Nursamran Subandi’s report, 10 cc of Mirna’s gastric fluid, which was extracted 70 minutes after she died, tested negative for cyanide.

However, from the gastric sample taken by Dr. Slamet Purnomo at the National Police Hospital in East Jakarta three days after Mirna died, Nursamran found 0.2 milligrams of cyanide in Mirna’s gastric fluid.

“Mirna didn’t die by cyanide poisoning even though there was 0.2 mg of cyanide in her gastric fluid. It is normal for cyanide to be found in gastric fluid because such a substance is commonly found in the environment. Therefore, God gave us the rhodanese enzyme to neutralize cyanide,” Djaja told judges, adding that a small amount of cyanide would not kill a person.

Rhodanese enzyme turns cyanide into thiocyanate. Therefore, in a person who had been poisoned with cyanide, thiocyanate would be found in the victim’s liver. A huge amount of cyanide would also be found in the victim’s gastric fluid, blood, urine and saliva. He added that a lethal dose of cyanide ranged from 150 to 250 milligrams. Therefore, it did not make sense that if Mirna had died from cyanide poisoning, since only 0.2 milligrams of cyanide had been found in her gastric fluid. (bbn)

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