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Police 'to name new suspects in Munir murder case by June'

Police plan to name new suspects in the case of the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib by June at the latest, a former member of the fact-finding team for the case said Monday.Usman Hamid, former secretary of the team, said after a closed meeting with the National Police crime investigation division that police promised they would investigate everyone linked to the high-profile murder.

"The new suspects were mentioned earlier in the trials," Usman told reporters. "The division's chief (Gen. Comr. Bambang Hendarso Dhanuri) promised us the investigation wouldn't stall at Pollycarpus and that they would go after the mastermind of the murder," he said. Usman, together with former deputy chief of the fact-finding team Asmara Nababan and former members Hendardi and Kamala Tjandrakirana, attended the closed meeting with the police to pave the way for the investigation into intelligence officials linked to the case. Usman said the team hoped all parties would cooperate in the investigation, including the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the largest Muslim organization in the country, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Former BIN deputy chief M. As'ad and official Muchdi Purwo Prandjono are suspected of having connections with the case.

"It seems the NU objects to the allegation that As'ad is linked to the case, as a member of the organization, " Usman told The Jakarta Post. "The team hopes that organizations such as the NU can play a role in revealing the facts." According to a BIN agent's written statement read out in court recently, Muchdi and Pollycarpus were in regular contact with one another, and Muchdi gave the latter Rp 10 million (US$1,087) on June 14, 2004, and another Rp 3 or Rp 4 million after that, for an unknown purpose. In another trial, BIN official Budi Santoso issued a statement saying As'ad had ordered Garuda Indonesia president director Indra Setiawan to assign Pollycarpus as a security officer on the plane that took Munir to Amsterdam.

Muchdi and As'ad, however, have yet to be named as suspects, despite their links to the case being mentioned in the court trials. They have denied being linked to the murder. Muchdi's lawyer, M. Mahendradatta, said last week his client would stay in Jakarta and was ready for the police investigation. "Muchdi works and resides in Jakarta. He is always in Jakarta," he said. Munir died from arsenic poisoning on a Garuda flight on Sept. 7, 2004, a flight that also carried Pollycarpus, who was convicted by the Supreme Court and sentenced to a 20-year prison term Jan. 25. In separate court trials, prosecutors demanded an 18-month jail term for Indra Setiawan and a one-year sentence for Garuda secretary Rohainil Aini for conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, based on their roles in facilitating Pollycarpus' placement on Munir's flight. (dia)

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