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Rights body still torn on Munir case as time runs out
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) remains divided on whether the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib should be considered a gross human rights violation as the prosecution deadline draws closer.
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Suciwati holds a mask of her late husband and human rights activist Munir Said Thalib as she participates in the Kamisan silent protest in front of Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 6, 2018. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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early two decades after the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) remains divided on whether the killing should be considered a gross human rights violation as the prosecution deadline draws closer.
On the eve of the 17th anniversary of the activist’s death, Komnas HAM is still debating whether the incident meets the criterion of systematic violence with a broad impact for it to be called a gross human rights violation.
Such a designation would exempt the case from the statute of limitations, which is set to stop it from being prosecuted next year.
Komnas HAM commissioner Sandrayati Moniaga revealed the internal divide on Monday, saying the debate could not be put to rest because a number of loose ends remained.
“In the ongoing discussion, some view [the case] as not having met the systematic violence element [to qualify it] as a gross human rights violation. Secondly, the victim was one person,” she said during an online discussion.
Munir died of arsenic poisoning on a Garuda Indonesia flight to the Netherlands on Sept. 7, 2004. His convicted killer, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was an aviation security officer assigned to the flight after the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) put in a request with Garuda’s then-president director Indra Setiawan.
Pollycarpus served 14 years in prison and was released in 2018 before dying of COVID-19 last year. Indra was jailed for one year.
