Jakarta – The naming of former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy Muchdi Purwo Prandjono as a new suspect by police in the murder of human rights activist Munir should be commended. The Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (KASUM) however believes that this is not the end of the case, but rather the start of a process to resolve the Munir case and uncover the hidden conspiracy behind the premeditated murder.

It is because of this therefore, that KASUM chairperson Usman Hamid is also asking police to question former BIN chief retired General A.M. Hendropriyono. “By tracing the role of other people who have yet to be revealed, we are asking police to question Hendropriyono to reveal who planned Munir’s murder”, said Hamid at the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Jakarta on Friday June 20.

Meanwhile an activist from KASUM’s legal division, Choirul Anam, said that according to the records of the Munir Fact Finding Team (TPF), based on all of the documents and new evidence that emerged during the trial of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, Prandjono’s was not the sole individual in planning the murder. “When Polly[carpus] was tried in court it showed that he [Prandjono] was not the sole planner. There are still others [at large]”, said Anam.

KASUM hopes that the police will be able to work optimally and discover the other powerful figures who were involved in the premeditated murder of Munir.

[Translated by James Balowski.]