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Munir Allies Seek Tribunal’s Help in Getting To BIN Files
Ulma Haryanto | October 11, 2011

Human rights activists hold a poster of Munir Said Thalib during the International Human Right Day in Medan, North Sumatra, on Dec. 10, 2010. Munir was murdered aboard a Garuda plane en route to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. (Antara Photo) Human rights activists hold a poster of Munir Said Thalib during the International Human Right Day in Medan, North Sumatra, on Dec. 10, 2010. Munir was murdered aboard a Garuda plane en route to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. (Antara Photo)
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Atribunal on Monday began hearing a request for intelligence documents that the widow of the late human rights defender Munir Said Thalib believes would reveal the mastermind behind the murder of her husband.

Suciwati and the Committee of Action and Solidarity for Munir (Kasum) filed a request to the Public Information Commission (KIP) in May.

The move followed a failure to retrieve a copy of a letter they claimed was issued by the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) assigning Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to be on the same flight as Munir in September 2004.

Aside from that, they also requested the assignment letter for BIN deputy chairman Muchdi Purwoprandjono to fly to Malaysia on the same day.

Kasum alleges that both men had a role in the assassination. Pollycarpus has been convicted for poisoning Munir, but Muchdi has been acquitted of charges that he ordered the murder.

“We sent an official request for both letters to BIN in February. But since we did not receive any response, in accordance with the [Public Information Law], we filed an information dispute at the commission 90 days later,” Choirul Anam, a member of Kasum, told the Jakarta Globe.

After deadlocks in three mediation processes between BIN and Suciwati, KIP finally agreed to hold its first tribunal.

“The standing point of the respondent [BIN] during previous mediation meetings is that the documents never existed. However, the petitioner has shown digital forensic evidence that a draft of such letters did exist,” said KIP chairman Ahmad Alamsyah Saragih, the presiding judge.

After the hearing, KIP decided to conduct a spot check at BIN’s headquarters to test whether the agency’s claim was true.

“The technicalities of our inspection cannot be disclosed publicly,” Ahmad said.

“We will send a classified letter to both parties, the president, BIN’s director and the cabinet secretary regarding our investigation.”

He said the commission would conduct a “consequence test” to assess whether the requested documents should be classified as state secrets.

As well as presenting evidence and court testimony from past hearings linking Pollycarpus to BIN, Choirul also planned to summon the chairman of the presidential fact-finding team created to investigate the case.

“He knows the relationship between Pollycarpus, Muchdi, and BIN,” Choirul said.

The request is KIP’s first major case involving the highly secretive BIN since it was established last year.

A man representing BIN who did not want to be publicly identified said that the agency never had the requested documents.

“They came up with tendentious conclusions,” the man said about the claimants.