Pilot Given 14-Year Jail Term in Activist’s Death
A Jakarta court sentenced an off-duty Indonesian pilot to 14 years in prison for planning the slaying of a top human rights activist during a flight on national airline Garuda last year.
Munir Said Thalib was poisoned on a flight to Amsterdam in September 2004. Pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who has said he was the victim of a conspiracy, screamed that he was innocent after the sentence was read.
Rights groups have said the trial in the killing of Munir was a test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s promise to make Indonesia more open and accountable.
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