Agence France-Presse - 1/25/2008 12:04 PM
Indonesia's Supreme Court sentenced a former pilot to 20 years in prison Friday for the murder of a leading rights activist, in a case NGOs have claimed implicates the country's powerful spy agency.
Pollycarpus Priyanto, a former pilot for national carrier Garuda, was found guilty of poisoning the outspoken Munir with arsenic while travelling on the airline in 2004 from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore, court spokesman Nurhadi said.
"Pollycarpus has been proven legally and without a doubt to have committed a premeditated murder and letter forgery," Nurhadi said.
The sentence follows an appeal by prosecutors against a Supreme Court acquittal of Priyanto.
Munir, who died aged 38, provided legal counsel for victims of officially sanctioned violence during former president Suharto's often brutal 32-year rule.
The case has drawn widespread international attention and is seen as a test of how far the Indonesian government has reformed since the 1998 end of Suharto's New Order regime. Human rights groups have long accused Indonesia's intelligence agency (BIN) of involvement in the killing -- which it has denied.
Munir's widow, Suciwati, told AFP the verdict did not go far enough.
"This is what he deserves, but I wish he got a longer punishment. What's more important is to follow up on the intelligence people behind him. He didn't act on his own," she said.
Judge Djoko Sarwoko said the sentence was "based on new evidence following the case review filed by the Attorney General" and that there "was no dissenting opinion from the panel of five judges."
Sarwoko said new evidence considered by the court included the testimony of Raymond Latuihamalo, who saw Pollycarpus carrying two glasses and sitting with Munir at Singapore's Changi Airport.
The judge said expert witnesses convinced the court that Munir was poisoned eight to nine hours before dying on the Singapore-Amsterdam leg of the flight.
Priyanto said he was innocent following his sentencing.
"What is my fault? What is my motive? What is the proof? I am innocent," he told Elshinta news radio. "I've been framed by the system."
Priyanto's lawyer, Muhammad Assegaf, told ElShinta that the evidence against his client was not enough for a conviction.
"No one had witnessed Priyanto actually putting the poison into (Munir's) drink," he said, adding that the prosecution had changed its account -- three times -- of how Munir was poisoned.
On Friday, prosecutors also sought jail sentences for two Garuda employees accused in connection with Munir's murder.
Prosecutor Didi Farkhan recommended 18 months for former Garuda CEO Indra Setiawan and 12 months for former company secretary Rohainil Aini.
The pair, being tried separately, has been charged with falsifying documents and being accessories to premeditated murder for creating a letter prosecutors say was used to assign Priyanto, who was off duty, to travel on Munir's flight.
Both men's lawyers are expected to read a statement to the court on February 1, outlining their defences.
Setiawan told the court last year that officers of Indonesia's intelligence agency, or BIN, asked him to assign Priyanto to Munir's flight in a letter marked "secret" sent in April or May 2004. He said the letter disappeared from his car in December 2004.(*)
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