Munir bin Thalib, one of Indonesia’s best known human rights defenders, died on a Garuda Airlines flight on 7 September 2004. He had been poisoned with arsenic.

A year later, a Garuda pilot named Pollycarpus was convicted of the murder but cleared on appeal. In the course of the investigation, evidence of links between Pollycarpus, Garuda and the National Intelligence Agency BIN was found, which “indicated a clear intent, a premeditated conspiracy between BIN and Garuda to murder Munir”.[1]

During the trial, PBI accompanied Munir’s wife Suciwati, who had suffered death threats and an attempt on her life. Pollycarpus was eventually reconvicted in 2008, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

At this point, Muchdi Purwopranjono, a former head of Indonesia’s Special Forces, KOPASSUS, and recent deputy head of BIN, was charged with masterminding Munir’s murder. He was tried and acquitted on 31 December 2009, following a “flawed” trial,[2] and almost immediately filed charges of slander and criminal defamation against Usman Hamid. Having participated in the investigation, Hamid had been a key witness in the trial, and afterwards had criticised the acquittal as well as corruption in the Indonesian justice system.

The case against Hamid is awaiting trial. The charges carry possible sentences of five years. There have been no further advances towards bringing to justice those responsible for ordering Munir’s killing.