Home > South-East Asia >> Indoleft

AGO has no excuse to delay judicial review in Munir murder case

Kompas - November 25, 2009

Jakarta – The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) no longer has any grounds to postpone submitting a judicial review on the release of former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono in the murder case of human rights activists Munir. Delays in the judicial review are seen as a plot to limit those accused of the Munir’s murder to former Garuda Airlines pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.

This was conveyed by Choirul Anam from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) on Tuesday November 24 in Jakarta. According to Choirul, the AGO has postponed submitting the judicial review against Purwopranjono’s aquital because it has not yet received a copy of the ruling from the court.

“But, Kasum itself has already received the Muchdi the appeal decision from the South Jakarta District Court. So, it’s impossible that the AGO has not yet received the ruling,” said Anam.

Munir’s widow Suciwati added that the Supreme Court’s arguments at the time in rejecting the June 15 appeal were extremely weak. The judicial review is very urgent to show that the Indonesian legal system is still functioning. “To this day the case is still being discussed internationally,” she said.

The AGO submitted the Supreme Court appeal after the South Jakarta District Court released Purwopranjono on all charges on December 31, 2008. The appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. Anam doubts that the arguments presented were legally defective.

Kasum legal team member Uli Parulian said that weak argumentation and unprofessional law enforcement officials are one of the symptoms of the court mafia. “We are demanding that the Muchdi judicial review be submitted along with new evidence (novum) and the replacement of the prosecutor”, said Anam.

Rusdi Marpaung from Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) highlighted the actions of law enforcement officials who have tended to put the Munir murder case on ice.

Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence also urged the AGO to immediately submit a judicial review over the Purwopranjono case. He said he suspected that delays in submitting the review are because of the influence of the court mafia. (edn/jos)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

If you would like to subscribe free to the INDOLEFT news service click here to send a request to be added to the list (subscribers to APSN’s news updates automatically receive INDOLEFT postings).