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Legal challenge to Pollycarpus parole opens

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2015

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Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Jakarta State Administrative Court held its first hearing on Monday of a petition challenging the decision to release Pollycarpus Budihari Prijanto, the convicted murderer of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib, on parole.

Human rights watchdog Imparsial is asking the court to annul the parole, which they claim violates the provisions of a 2012 government regulation and a 2013 Law and Human Rights Ministry decree that public interest and a sense of justice and security should be taken into consideration when granting parole.

Pollycarpus was granted parole by the Law and Human Rights Ministry in November last year after only serving six years in prison. He had been sentenced to 14 years for the premeditated murder of Munir and falsifying documents.

In the petition, the plaintiffs also argued that such parole "violated the principles of legal certainty and transparency".

Representing the plaintiffs, Muhammad Isnur from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), said after the hearing that Pollycarpus had "failed to help uncover the mastermind behind Munir's murder". "Not to mention that Pollycarpus has shown no remorse," he added.

Isnur also cited a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that said the premeditated murder of Munir was heinous and had ignited criticism at home and abroad and had shown Indonesia, which was trying hard to build a democratic state based on the law and protection of human rights, in an embarrassing light.

Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly has defended the decision to release Pollycarpus, a former pilot with state-flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, on parole, saying that the latter had met all the conditions required by the ministry.

During Wednesday's hearing, the ministry officials presented no arguments, asking the court to allow them more time to prepare their brief as the ministry had yet to officially appoint legal representatives for the case.

Presiding judge Ujang Abdullah adjourned the hearing until April 1 to hear arguments from the ministry. "[Next time] you must be ready with your arguments," Ujang said. Pollycarpus was not present at the hearing, as the court was unable to contact him at his home address.

Pollycarpus was convicted in December 2005 at the Central Jakarta District Court for putting arsenic in Munir's tea at Singapore's Changi airport, where Munir was in transit en route to Amsterdam in September 2004.

The Supreme Court increased Pollycarpus' sentence to 20 years in 2008 after he lost an appeal, in 2013, it was cut to 14 years.

During his imprisonment, which began in June 2008, Pollycarpus accumulated a total of 42 months of remission on 11 occasions. His release has been seen as a blow for human rights campaigners who have long sought justice for Munir and other unresolved human rights abuses in the country.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/26/legal-challenge-pollycarpus-parole-opens.html.