PROGRESS IN THE MUNIR CASE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001223

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PINR KCRM KJUS ID
SUBJECT: PROGRESS IN THE MUNIR CASE

REF: A. JAKARTA 163


B. 06 JAKARTA 13007

C. 06 JAKARTA 12300

D. 05 JAKARTA 16710 - POLLCARPUS CONVICTED

E. 05 JAKARTA 15680 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL OFFICER STANLEY HARSHA, REASONS
1.4 (B AND D).


1. (C) Summary. The Indonesian police have intensified
their investigation into the murder of Indonesian human
rights leader Munir, making new arrests and reopening the
case against the Garuda airlines pilot already acquitted. It
is headed by the recently appointed chief of the Internal
Investigations Division (CID) for the Indonesian National
Police (INP),who told us that the new evidence includes
forensic analysis of the arsenic content in Munir and
information stemming from the interrogation of new witnesses.
Separately, human rights lawyers with the organization
Kontras claimed that police are also pursuing witnesses that
would tie the assassination plot directly to the former
director of the Indonesian National Intelligence Agency (BIN)
and his subordinates. The legal team representing Munir's
widow Suciwati is optimistic about progress in the case for
the first time since the investigation began in November
2004, expressing confidence in the current police team.
However, there are some doubts about the validity of the
forensic evidence and whether the current investigation is
actually probing the politically sensitive possibility of
high level knowledge of the assassination. End Summary.

NEW LEADS IN CASE
--------------


2. (C) During an April 26 meeting, the new head of the team
investigating the murder of Indonesian human rights activist
Munir, CID Head Bambang Hendarso Danuri, told us that the
results of forensic testing on Munir's organs done by Applied
Speciation and Consulting in Tukwilla, Washington provided
key new evidence in the case. The team's lead field and
forensic investigator Mathius Salempang added that the lab
report showed the arsenic was primarily "S-3" type, which
takes effect between 30 and 60 minutes after ingestion. This
crucial evidence led the police to establish a new timeline
for the murder. (Note: FBI Jakarta says they are not
familiar with the term "S-3" type of arsenic speciation and
are not certain whether arsenic poisoning can be pinpointed
so precisely.)


3. (C) According to Hendarso, Munir was poisoned during his
approximately 70-minute layover at Changi airport in
Singapore, at about 1 a.m. on September 7, 2004. Witnesses
on the Garuda flight from Singapore to Amsterdam have told
police that Munir began throwing up ten minutes after
boarding the flight, with diarrhea following 10 minutes
later. (According to Indonesia's Tempo Magazine, an
Indonesian doctor tried to treat Munir with nausea and
diarrhea medicine throughout the flight. Munir died while
the flight was crossing over Romania).


4. (C) The arsenic tests, coupled with new eyewitness
accounts, have given police enough new evidence to charge
Pollycarpus for murder again, Hendarso said. Pollycarpus'
conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court on October 4,
2006 because of lack of evidence showing that he actually
poisoned Munir (Ref C). Indonesian law allows cases to be
reopened with new evidence. INP has 39 witnesses in the new
case against Pollycarpus, of which the Attorney General has
accepted 18. Police handed their file over for prosecution
on April 19, who will now decide whether to indict
Pollycarpus again. Vice Attorney General Muchtar Arifin told
the media on April 28 that his office is still examining the
evidence.


5. (C) As already revealed in court, Pollycarpus had given up
his business class seat to Munir while chatting with him in
the ticket line at the Jakarta airport. According to police,
two witnesses now place Pollycarpus at Changi's Coffee Bean
restaurant during transit for the Amsterdam flight. The
exchange of seats was necessary to get Munir off the plane
quickly at Changi so that Pollycarpus would have time to
poison him, Hendarso said. Hendarso said a key witness is
Ongen Latuihamalo, described in the media as a tall,
long-haired, golden voiced singer from Ambon, Moluccas who
has resided in Amsterdam for many years, and is rumored to
traffic in ecstasy. A Dutch diplomat told us that Ongen is
very popular in Holland. Working through his family, police

JAKARTA 00001223 002 OF 003


persuaded Ongen to hand himself over to INP for protective
custody under the 2006 Witness Protection Law, and
investigator Salempang said he escorted Ongen from Kuala
Lumpur to Jakarta on April 19.


6. (C) Ongen is now being held in a safe location as a
voluntary witness, and is being "very, very cooperative,"
offering information key to the case against Pollycarpus,
Hendarso told us. Ongen reportedly sat with Munir and
Pollycarpus and witnessed Pollycarpus bring a cup of a hot
drink from the Coffee Bean counter to Munir. A second key
witness to the Pollycarpus encounter is being sought in a
major European country - not Holland - Hendarso revealed,
refusing to offer more details. (Note: Tempo Magazine
interviewed an Indonesian witness to the Munir-Pollycarpus
encounter, an "SA" who lives in Germany and recognized Munir
sitting with two individuals who match the descriptions of
Pollycarpus and Ongen.) Strangely enough, Suciwati now says
she remembers Ongen approaching her at Changi airport in 2005
while she was flying to the U.S. and giving her his phone
number and an alias name. Ongen told Suciwati he might be
able to help in the Munir case and to call him, Suciwati's
attorneys told us. Suciwati said she never followed up but
now recognizes Ongen as the same person.

ADDITIONAL ARRESTS
--------------


7. (C) Since Hendarso took over the investigation in January,
police also have arrested two Garuda executives in connection
with the murder. Former CEO Indra Setiawan and Head of
Operations Rohainil Aini are accused of providing the letter
assigning Pollycarpus to fly to Singapore on September 6.
"They can be indicted of abetting a murder," Hendarso said,
adding, "They provided all the documents to facilitate"
Pollycarpus' flight. Setiawan also tried to block police
access to documents, Hendarso said. Still, one former
investigator who had worked on the Munir case is skeptical
that these new arrests will lead to anything, telling us that
Hendarso is under pressure to show progress and so is making
arrests first, hoping the arrests will lead to evidence,
rather than gathering evidence to make the arrests first.

NEW TEAM LEADS INVESTIGATION
--------------


8. (C) Hendarso said his new nine-person team is keeping a
tight lid on information, not sharing any evidence with
persons outside the team. Only one member of the old team is
still part of the investigation. Hendarso would not reveal
that person's name but it is possibly the former lead
investigator Anton Charliyan, who according to human rights
lawyers was in Aceh last week seeking to interview a witness,
a BIN agent. However, Charliyan told us during an April 24
meeting that he is no longer authorized to discuss the case,
closing off what had been a very useful inside source to the
investigation.


9. (C) As mentioned in Ref A, Charliyan told the Kontras
lawyers in January that former BIN Chief Hendropriyono
chaired two meetings at which Munir's assassination was
planned, basing his accusation on a BIN witness who remains
afraid to give formal testimony. That official said only the
time and method of the murder changed from the plans he heard
discussed; original plans were to kill Munir in his office,
Charliyan reportedly revealed to Kontras.


10. (C) Kontras lawyers revealed an additional intriguing
lead during an April 19 briefing for diplomats. A BIN agent
and former army special forces (Kopassus) colonel with
extensive action in Aceh, Bambang Irawan, allegedly developed
the arsenic used to murder Munir. Police sources told
Kontras that they have witnessed Irawan experimenting with
arsenic on cats. They saw Irawan killing cats with arsenic,
Kontras lawyers claim. Irawan also allegedly met Munir at
Changi, according to witnesses and immigration records, the
lawyers claim.

POSSIBLE HIGH LEVEL INVOLVEMENT
--------------


11. (C) While Charliyan did admit to us last December that
Hendropriyono is one of the prime suspects, Charliyan is no
longer willing to talk about the case. Police sources have
told us that Charliyan's superiors were unhappy with the many
leaks that were attributed to him. Hendarso declined to
discuss the aspects of the case involving planning of the

JAKARTA 00001223 003 OF 003


murder, only saying that he remains "hopeful" that the
masterminds will also be revealed. Public statements by
Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh also suggest there is
sufficient political will to bring the masterminds to
justice. Rahman told Tempo Magazine that Munir "had been a
target for months" and that "Munir was one person who was
considered to be a thorn in someone's side, and it had to be
removed." Rahman also said that in order for the killers to
get on the flight, "someone had a great deal of authority
over the airlines."

SENSE OF OPTIMISM AND URGENCY
--------------


12. (SBU) Kontras team lawyers Usman Hamid and Raffendi
Djamin also are expressing more enthusiasm over the
investigation for the first time since the murder, saying
they believe that police are on the right track. Suciwati
also told the media in April, "I am quite pleased with the
police work this time."


13. (C) President Yudhoyono reportedly met with the foreign
minister, the coordinating minister for security affairs, the
attorney general and the police chief in early April to make
sure they prioritized the case, Raffendi said. The GOI is
particularly sensitive to criticism from the UN Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights, Philip Alston, as well as that of
the U.S. Congress. Hendarso and Salempang specifically asked
us about Congressional interest in the case.

COMMENT
--------------


14. (C) While the investigation has certainly found new
impetus, it remains unclear whether the police have strong
enough evidence to bring Pollycarpus to trial, as even the
new evidence would appear to be circumstantial. It is
equally unclear to what extent police are seriously looking
for the masterminds behind the murder. A breakthrough on who
ordered the murder would presumably require someone with
inside information to take an extraordinary risk in
testifying, and would require protection. Nonetheless, the
police seem to have been given orders to show progress on the
case, likely due to international attention.
HEFFERN