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