MUNIR CASE: JUSTICE STILL ELUSIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 008954 SIPDIS SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR EAP/IET AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/18/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PINR KCRM KJUS ID SUBJECT: MUNIR CASE: JUSTICE STILL ELUSIVE REF: JAKARTA 16710 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER LISSA M. MCATEE, REASON 1.4 (B AND D). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Police investigation into the larger conspiracy behind Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir's death remains at a standstill. Pollycarpus (PC),convicted for the murder of Munir, alleged the police are torturing him for information. Activists are strategizing how to use the upcoming Supreme Court decision on PC's conviction to regain momentum for achieving accountability. End Summary. INVESTIGATION STALLED, TORTURE ALLEGATIONS -------------- ¶2. (C) Police are reportedly frustrated in their investigation of the conspiracy to murder Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir, who died of massive arsenic poisoning while aboard a flight from Singapore to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004(ref). Rafendi Djamin, Director of the Human Rights Watch Group (HWRG) told us that contacts within the police say the investigation is stagnant and therefore they are leaning heavily on Garuda pilot Pollycarpus (PC) who was convicted for Munir's murder, to either confess or reveal evidence against his co-conspirators. ¶3. (C) Mufty Al-Akhlak, General Secretary for The Commission on Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS) told us that PC's wife recently filed a complaint with the police stating police tortured PC while in detention. Djamin said that Father Sandi, a priest who visited PC in jail, described PC as recently looking "beat up and bruised". Al-Akhlak speculated that, if in fact the allegations are true, the police are either trying to force PC to cooperate in their investigation or more likely, to confess to being the mastermind of Munir's murder so they can close the case. However, Djamin said PC has no incentive to give information of either kind. Djamin believed that members within the Indonesian Intelligence Body (BIN) promised PC he would not be in jail long but, should he expose his co-conspirators in BIN, he would endanger the lives of his wife and children. EXPECTED COURT DECISION SPURS ACTIVISM/TRAVEL TO THE WEST -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Supreme Court is expected to rule on PC's conviction in the coming weeks. Activists say that it is difficult to predict the Court's decision but they are concerned that regardless of the decision, it will be the "last word" on the Munir case. Al-Akhlak asked us to use the Supreme Court's decision as another opportunity to repeat the statement we made after PC's conviction calling for further investigation into Munir's murder and public release of the Fact-Finding Team's report (ref). Al-Akhlak hopes to persuade European governments to make similar statements at the same time. ¶5. (SBU) Before the Supreme Court makes its decision proponents are trying to uncover crucial evidence that so far has been missing. Suciwati and Usman Hamid, the Coordinator of Kontras, recently traveled to Belgium and the Netherlands to garner international support and to push the Dutch to release forensics evidence regarding the exact time Munir was poisoned, an element of the prosecution's case against PC that the trial court had found to be weak. Observers here generally believe the poisoning took place on the Indonesian carrier, Garuda Airlines, in flight from Jakarta to Singapore enroute to Amsterdam. Suciwati also wants to use that evidence in a planned civil suit against Garuda Airlines for negligence. Al-Akhlak reported that Indonesia's death penalty was still the sticking point with the Dutch (ref). ¶6. (U) Human Rights Watch First, based in New York, invited Suciwati to the United States to receive an award this fall. Al-Akhlak said that Suciwati would likely visit Washington DC but Human Rights Watch First would plan her schedule. COMMENT -------------- JAKARTA 00008954 002 OF 002 ¶7. (C) All signs point to failure in the police investigation of the larger conspiracy behind Munir's murder. If PC's torture allegations are true, it may well signal the police's/prosecution's desperation to close the case. The Supreme Court's upcoming decision may likewise not add much clarity to the broader question of accountability. Activists hope they can use the decision to put Munir on the front page again and to remind a nation focused on news of natural disasters and militant antics that the pursuit for justice in Munir's murder is not over. In the meantime, we should consider issuing another statement to remind the GOI that the international community has not forgotten the case. Post will propose language after the Supreme Court decision septel. PASCOE