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Komnas HAM has new team on Munir murder
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Demanding justice: 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 the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 6, 2018. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has created a new team to dig deeper and find out whether or not the murder of rights defender Munir Said Thalib constituted a gross human rights violation following pressure from activists.
The creation of the team was decided in a meeting on Tuesday -- the day Munir died of arsenic poisoning 17 years ago -- as a response to activists' pleas for the commission to establish it as an extraordinary case so that it will not expire next year nor will the masterminds go unpunished.
Led by commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara, the three-member team has six months to determine whether the murder is a grave violation of human rights. The deadline can be extended if necessary.
“The team is mandated to also look further into the murder, not only to determine whether the murder is a grave violation of human rights,” Beka told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
This comes as seven Komnas HAM commissioners remain divided over whether the Munir murder case is eligible to be declared as a gross violation. The discussion among them has been ongoing since activists grouped under the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (KASUM) sent a letter last year urging the former to recognize the Munir murder as an extraordinary case.
Read also: It's now or never to bring masterminds in Munir case to justice: Activists
Activists fear that if the Munir case is treated as an ordinary crime, the 18-year statute of limitations on murder laid out in the Criminal Code will apply and any investigation will lapse next year and the ultimate perpetrators, who remain unknown, will get off the hook.
