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Government under fire for parole of killer of rights activist Munir
Jakarta Globe - December 1, 2014
The government, though, insists that it is only doing its duty of fulfilling inmates' rights, while rights groups continue to slam the decision.
"Absolutely, we will ask the government to explain why, when it is clear that [the parole] given to Munir's murderer betrays the sense of justice," Benny K. Harman, the deputy head of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees law, human rights and security, said in Jakarta on Monday.
"We want the government to explain the reason to the public, so that they won't suspect some political interests [behind the parole]," he added.
Pollycarpus was released from Sukamiskin Penitentiary in Bandung last Friday, and is now required to report to parole officers once a month. He is forbidden from leaving the country.
Pollycarpus had served eight of 14 years of his prison sentence, after he was convicted of murdering the rights activist with arsenic poisoning during a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004.
Court proceedings revealed his connections with Muchdi Purwoprandjono, then deputy chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN). Witness testimonies further said that in one of Pollycarpus's closed-door meetings with Muchdi, then-BIN chief A.M. Hendropriyono was also present.
With Pollycarpus having no clear motive for the murder, activists have long suggested the he was acting on the orders of the BIN's top officials. However, while Muchdi has been acquitted, Hendropriyono has never been charged in the case.
Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly, who signed Muchdi's release form on Nov. 13, argued that he did it in line with prevailing regulations.
Under Indonesian law, he said, any inmates, except for those implicated in "extraordinary crimes" like terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption, have a right to be considered for parole after serving two-thirds of their term in prison.
Sentence cuts are commonly given away generously to Indonesian prisoners. Pollycarpus, without parole, would have walked free from prison in 2017.
Yasonna said Pollycarpus had actually completed two-thirds of his term in 2012. He could have earned a parole by then. The minister insisted that he was only fulfilling the rights of inmates.
"I think we must respect inmates' rights," Yasonna said in Jakarta on Monday. "We [the ministry] have often been criticized on matters concerning parole, but we at penitentiaries are not only tasked with handing down punishment. We also educate [inmates] and watch over them, to see whether their behavior improves or not."
He added he could review Pollycarpus's parole if the procedures were not in line with regulations, but again emphasized he was only protecting human rights by signing the parole order.
"If [the parole] is wrong, surely we will review it," Yasonna said. "I'm open to criticism, but please help me by not pushing me to neglect people's rights. I can't do something that is against human rights."
The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, or LBH Jakarta, though, accused Yasonna of breaching the government regulation on sentence remissions and paroles.
LBH Jakarta director Febi Yonesta said, citing the regulation, that parole must only be granted upon taking into account "substantive conditions," namely that the parole would not harm the public's interest or hurt their sense of justice.
"Parole is a right of inmates, but it is not an absolute right," Febi said in a press statement on Monday.
LBH Jakarta official Muhamad Isnur added, "It is shameful that rather than focusing on revealing the masterminds behind Munir's murder, the government granted instead a parole to Pollycarpus, who gave no contributions to revealing who the people behind Munir's murder are."
The foundation called on the government to repeal Pollycarpus's parole.
Joko's commitment questioned
Munir's widow, Suciwati, meanwhile, addressed her criticism to President Joko Widodo, who made settlements of gross rights violations in the past one of his campaign pledges.
Joko at the beginning brought new hope to rights activists, who have lamented zero settlement of rights cases during former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decade in power.
The former Jakarta governor and Solo mayor made rights one of his selling points during the presidential campaign, while his opponent, former Army general Prabowo Subianto, was continually criticized over his checkered record on human rights protection.
"The leader [president] may have changed, but if the rule of law remains the same, like now, then upholding the law and human rights – as [Joko] once promised – appears to be no more than a paradise breeze," Suciwati told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.
"Neither the minister nor the president is committed to upholding human rights. Human rights issues were used only as [political] commodities," added the former labor activist.
The executive secretary of the Committee of Solidarity Action for Munir (Kasum), Choirul Anam, similarly questioned the Joko administration's commitment to upholding human rights. "The decision to grant parole is a strong signal of the government's weak political commitment to protecting human rights."
The executive director of rights group Imparsial, Poengki Indarti, meanwhile, called the whole handling of Munir's murder "ironic."
"It is very ironic that among people who plotted Munir's murder, only the field executor was punished, and with excessive sentence cuts at that," Poengki said. "The intellectual actors, meanwhile, remain free, and have become influential people."
Poengki stopped short of mentioning any names, but it is understood that she was referring to Hendropriyono, who is close to Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of Joko's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Hendropriyono was a senior member of Joko's campaign team and was also an adviser to a transition team that Joko formed after his election, to help in the transfer of power from the Yudhoyono administration.
The former BIN chief was tipped as one of the strongest candidates to become Joko's chief security minister, although this did not happen, likely due to strong resistance from human rights groups.
Lastly, Joko appointed Hendropriyono's son-in-law, Brig. Gen. Andika Perkasa, as the commander of the presidential guard.
Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto claimed that Pollycarpus's parole was "inevitable" and should not disprove Joko's commitment to human rights.
"We're aware that based on the procedures, Pollycarpus should have been free since 2012; there are some legal issues that don't allow him to be jailed for longer," Andi said on Monday. "So in order to respect those principles [of law], the government is not interfering with this."
He added that the government, under Joko, remained committed to resolving past human rights abuse cases, saying there would be a coordinating meeting soon between the attorney general, the justice minister and some other security ministers to discuss the issue.
"[The meeting] will examine what can be done to deal with cases of human rights violations," Andi said. "We've already accepted input from activists, including from the national rights commission."
Joko also has been criticized for his appointment of Yasonna, a PDI-P lawmaker, as the justice minister, and National Democrat Party (NasDem) politician H. M. Prasetyo as the attorney general.
oActivists have expressed worries that the officials' political affiliations will hamper law enforcement in Indonesia, especially concerning corruption and rights cases.
[Additional reporting from Farouk Arnaz & Robertus Wardh.]
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