VIVAnews – A sentence of 15 years of imprisonment is being sought for former Deputy Chief of State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwoprandjono in the murder case of human rights activist Munir Sahid Thalib.
“Muchdi PR is legally and beyond a reasonable doubt guilty in premeditated murder,” said prosecuting attorney Cyrus Sinaga, to the panel of judges, presided by Judge Suharto, during a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, Dec. 2. As such, the prosecutors demand a sentence of 15 years in prison.
According to the prosecutors, there are several burdening factors throughout the trial thus far. Muchdi is deemed to have damaged the image of state officials, not truthful during the trial, and not polite during the trial. “The mitigating factor is that Muchdi had served the country,” said Cyrus before Judge Suharto.
Muchdi is enraged by the sentence sought against him. "This is the height of conspiracy, tyranny, and defamation against me. And as you know, defamation is more inhuman than murder," he exclaimed after the hearing, Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Munir was killed by arsenic, put into his food, during his flight from Singapore to Amsterdam, on 7 September 2004. Pollycarpus Budiharjo, an ex-pilot, whom the prosecutors believe was working as an intelligence agent, was already found guilty for Munir’s murder.
The prosecutors believe that Pollycarpus killed Munir based on orders from Muchdi, whom at that time was Deputy Chief of State Intelligence Agency. After an appellate review by the Supreme Court, Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The charges on Muchdi are based on a phone record of calls made between him and Pollycarpus. According to a call data record (CDR), there was communication between the two on 7 September 2004, and that the phone at that time was located in Surabaya.
During the previous hearing, on 18 November 2008, Muchdi provided evidence to strengthen his alibi with regard to the alleged communication. During the hearing, Muchdi's legal advisor Lutfi Hakim showed a green passport belonging to Muchdi to the board of judges, presided by Judge Suharto. Lutfi claimed that his client was in Malaysia from 6 to 12 September 2004. “Let the public determine which is more credible, an unsigned and unstamped CDR printout, or a passport officially issued by the government” said Lutfi after the hearing in November.
In response, Cyrus had said that the accuracy of the CDR is 100%. “Free from errors and cannot be added to or tampered with because its purpose is for billing,” he said. In addition, Choirul Anam, a representative of the Committee of Solidarity Act for Munir, said: “Passports for official state assignments are blue. But the one that was shown to us was green, that’s for civilian.”
Muchdi will be given the chance to file a defense petition on Thursday, Dec. 11.
VIVAnews writers Ismoko Widjaya, Elin Yunita Kristanti, Ita Lismawati F. Malau, Zaky Al-Yamani, Ramona Sofianne Dewi and Archie Ardian contributed to this article.
