12/20/2005, 00.00
INDONESIA
Send to a friend

Pilot jailed for Indonesian activist's murder

Judges ruled that the man was guilty of lacing food served to activist Munir with arsenic.

Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) - An Indonesian court has found a pilot guilty of the murder of a leading human rights activist on a flight to Amsterdam last year and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.

Judges ruled that Pollycarpus Priyanto was guilty of lacing food served to activist Munir Thalib with a lethal dose of arsenic.The incident occurred during a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam via Singapore in September last year.

"Defendant Pollycarpus Priyanto has been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt of taking part in the premeditated murder and of falsifying documents," chief judge Cicut Sutiarso said.

The judges said there was evidence that in plotting the murder, the pilot made frequent telephone contact with another person whose identity was still unknown.

Priyanto said he had been made a scapegoat.

"I reject all the charges and the verdict. I didn't do it," he said after the judges read their verdict.

"I'm a scapegoat."

Mr Munir was a fearless proponent of democracy and critic of the Indonesian military. He was prominent in the campaign against the role of the Indonesian military in repression in East Timor. In 1999 he was appointed to a United Nations Commission of Inquiry charged with investigating human rights violations on the island.

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
Human rights activist poisoned
12/11/2004
The Munir case is closed: 20 years for the former Garuda airline pilot
26/01/2008
Pilot condemned for Munir murder soon to walk free
05/10/2006
Investigation into the death of human rights activist
10/12/2004
Secret services involved in activist Munir’s death
24/08/2007


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”