INDONESIAN POLICE DETAIN FORMER DEPUTY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF

By Andi Abdussalam

     Jakarta, June 21 (ANTARA) - After two suspects are put behind bars for the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, the Indonesian National Police Headquarters is now detaining former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Maj Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono for alleged involvement in the murder case.
     Police have served a summons on Muchdi to come to the National Police Headquarters for questioning on Friday (June 20) but he met the summons a day earlier at his own volition, National Police Headquarters' public relations division chief Insp Gen Abubakar Nataprawira said.
     "So Muchdi was not arrested but he gave himself up," Nataprawira said, adding that before he showed up at the National Police Headquarters, his lawyer had informed the police his client would come on Thursday night.
     Police summoned Muchdi after his name was mentioned in the court trials of two other people involved in Munir's murder. A Munir case fact-finding team had also recommended he should be questioned.
     In Thursday's investigation, police named him a suspect in the murder case. "Having been declared a suspect, he will be detained as soon as his interrogation is completed tonight," Abubakar Nataprawira said.
     Muchdi signed an arrest warrant served on him by police on Friday but has not yet been put in a cell, his lawyer said.
     "The arrest warrant was signed at around 1 am local time today (Friday) but until this morning, Muchdi was still being interrogated,", Zaenal Maarif, Muchdi's lawyer, said.
     But Insp Gen Abubakar Nataprawira said that having been declared a suspect, he would be detained as soon as his interrogation is completed.
     His lawyers' team is still discussing his arrest. "We, members of Muchdi's lawyers' team, will hold a meeting to discuss this (his arrest)," he said.
     Muchdi was named a suspect only one day after National Police Chief Gen Sutanto and the head of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department Com Gen Hendarso Dahuri indicated police had identified a new suspect in the Munir murder case. But they still declined to reveal the new suspect's name.
      Nataprawira said Muchdi was to be charged based on Article 340 of the Penal Code on premeditated murder and the Code's Article 55 on participation in a criminal offense. The articles carried a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, life imprisonment or death.
     The two persons already tried and convicted by a court for Munir's murder were former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto and former PT Garuda airline company president director Indra Setiawan. Priyanto was sentenced to 20 years and Setiawan to one year in jail.
     Munir died after being poisoned during a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004.
     In Friday's interrogation, Muchi denied knowing Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. "He (Muchdi) does not know Pollycarpus and is not involved directly or indirectly in the Munir case," Luthfi Hakim, one of Muchdi's lawyers, said here on Friday during a break in his client's interrogation.
     He said his client knew nothing about the murder and that he had never contacted Pollycarpus. However, he admitted that his client's office phone number was once connected to Pollycarpus' home phone number.
     "It was just a connection between phone numbers, but not between Muchdi and Pollycarpus," Hakim said.
     Muchdi also denied that he had sent a letter to the national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, asking the assignment of Pollycarpus to be placed in the same flight with Munir. "Muchdi never wrote such a letter, nor asked anyone to write it," he said.
     According to the result of a laboratory analysis, the letter was typed on Muchdi's computer, but he also denied it because he did not have a computer at his office and could not operate a computer.
     Whether or not the legal process would prove his alleged involvement, his arrest shows the commitment of the government and law enforcing agencies to solving the Munir case.
     Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said the government would pay full attention to efforts of solving the Munir murder case.
     "The president on behalf of the government is paying full attention to the case because it has come under national and international spotlight," Rajasa said.
     President Yudhoyono had asked the law-enforcing agencies to settle the case transparently, openly, and fairly.
     Vice President Jusuf Kalla said he appreciated both the National Police and former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwopranjono for faithfully following the prescribed legal procedures in connection with the Munir murder case.
    "I highly appreciate the Police and Muchdi," the vice president told newsmen here on Friday.
     Kalla said he would not interfere in the case's handling. "Let the law take its due course. Our main objective is to conduct the legal process well. If we can do it, all people are equal before the law," Kalla said.
     In the meantime, political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Hermawan Sulistio, said he was absolutely sure the National Defense Forces (TNI) had chosen to adopt a professional view on the arrest of Maj Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono.
     "Everything should be based on the rule of law because all citizens are equal before the law," Hermawan Sulistion said. He said the police obviously always collected strong evidence before  deciding to name a person a suspect in a criminal case.
    "And therefore, I am sure TNI will be professional in permitting Muchdi to undergo a legal process," Hermawan said. ***3***

(T.A014/A/HNG/A/B003).(T.A014/A/A014/B003) 21-06-2008 00:12:17