The Times Online reports that the former head of Indonesia’s national airline, Indra Setiawan, and his deputy, Rohainil Aini, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, after a human rights activist ate an in-flight meal that was laced with a “massive dose of arsenic” and died on the plane.
The poisoning of Munir Said Thalib (above left) in 2004 silenced one of the most ardent critics of Indonesia’s military, a lawyer who, at 38, had spent much of his life exposing the corruption and human rights abuses wrought by its officers.
Before his agonising mid-flight death shortly before landing in Amsterdam, Mr Munir had been preparing a report on human rights abuses in the provinces of Aceh and Papua.
Indra Setiawan (above right), the former head of Garuda Airlines, and his deputy, Rohainil Aini appeared in the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Their trials follow the 2005 conviction of Pollycarpus Priyanto, an off-duty Garuda pilot found guilty of Mr Munir’s murder but acquitted on appeal to the Supreme Court last year. The murder, claim Mr Munir’s supporters, may ultimately have been the work of Indonesia’s spy agency.
