Jakarta Post, 4 November 2006

No UN team to probe Munir case, says Foreign Ministry

JAKARTA (Antara): The Foreign Ministry said Friday no team from the United Nations would probe the death of murdered rights activist Munir, who was poisoned on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam.

"There is no UN team for the Munir case. There is also no (UN) special rapporteur who will come (here)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya was quoted by Antara news agency as saying Friday.

Suciwati, the widow of Munir, met Philips Alston, a UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, in New York recently. She sought his help in investigating the murder of her husband.

Desra stressed a UN rapporteur could only come at the invitation of the government.

According to Desra, there would be several UN rapporteurs to arrive in Indonesia in December, but they will be dealing with migrant worker issues.

He also said that previously there was a UN rapporteur in Indonesia to investigate a domestic violence case.

Munir was killed Sept. 6, 2004, on board a Garuda flight. Based on an autopsy performed in the Netherlands, there was a high concentration of arsenic in Munir's body.

So far no one has been punished for his death after the Supreme Court quashed the murder conviction of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, an off-duty Garuda pilot who was on the same flight with Munir when the murder occurred.

Pollycarpus was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court, and the sentence was upheld by the Jakarta High Court.

But the Supreme Court said there was no evidence he was involved in the murder. It did uphold Pollycarpus' two-year sentence for forging a letter of duty from Garuda management. (**)

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TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 8HW, UK. tel +44 (0)20 8771 2904 fax +44 (0)20 8653 0322 tapol@gn.apc.org http://tapol.gn.apc.org