Munir’s murderers evade prosecution
The poisoning of Indonesian human rights activist Munir Said Thalib on a Garuda flight from Indonesia to the Netherlands in 2004 shocked the world. But now the friends and relatives of the activist have been dealt another blow. Last week Pollycarpus Budhari Priyanto, the only man convicted of the murder of Munir, had his conviction over turned. Polycarpus – who has strong links to Indonesia intelligence agency BIN – was on the same flight as Munir and had questioned Munir’s wife several times to ensure that he would be on the right flight. During his time as a human rights activist and the founder of Indonesian NGO KONTRAS, Munir won himself many enemies, speaking out against human rights abuses perpetrated by the Indonesian Government as well as the corruption inherent in the Suharto regime before it was toppled in 1998.