Indonesian Airline Pilot Arrested in Activist’s Death

Indonesian police said Friday that they had arrested an airline pilot as a suspect in the death of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, who died of massive arsenic poisoning in September while on a flight to Amsterdam.

The Garuda Indonesia pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was traveling as a passenger on the first leg of the flight from Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, to Singapore and had given Munir his seat in business class, authorities say.

Police, who had been questioning Pollycarpus since Tuesday, said they had found “sufficient preliminary evidence” to identify him as a suspect in Munir’s slaying. They declined to provide details.

A presidential investigative commission earlier concluded that there was a conspiracy to kill Munir and that one or more Garuda employees were probably involved.

The commission also accused Garuda of attempting to obstruct the investigation, a charge the airline denies.

Munir, 38, had challenged the military regime of former President Suharto and continued to criticize the armed forces after Suharto resigned in 1998. As founder and head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, also known as Kontras, Munir investigated the military’s alleged role in the disappearance of civilians in Aceh province and East Timor, a former Indonesian province that gained independence in 2002.

He received numerous death threats over the years but shrugged them off. Last year, someone threw an explosive device at his house. Earlier, a mob had attacked his office.

On Sept. 6, he was headed to Amsterdam to take a break and study law. His wife, Suciwati, said he was healthy when he boarded the flight in Jakarta.

Munir may have known Pollycarpus. Authorities say he received three phone calls from the pilot before the flight: one three days earlier and two shortly before boarding.

While sitting in the business class seat Pollycarpus gave him, Munir was served a meal. Authorities believe that someone slipped the odorless, colorless poison into his orange juice.

During an hourlong stop in Singapore, Munir sent his wife a telephone text message saying his stomach hurt. He then boarded the plane for the long flight to Amsterdam.

Within hours, he became violently ill and lay down on the floor of the plane near the lavatory. Heart surgeon Tarmizi Hakim, an Indonesian passenger on the flight, concluded that Munir was suffering from food poisoning and did not recommend an emergency landing. He gave Munir a tranquilizer injection to help him sleep.

“Obviously he was in tremendous pain,” the doctor said later.

About three hours before the flight landed, he found that Munir had died.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono eventually formed a commission with limited powers to investigate the death.

Brig. Gen. Marsudhi Hanafi, head of the commission, said the panel had concluded that there were “strong indications” that Garuda employees were involved in a conspiracy to kill Munir.

Garuda is Indonesia’s largest airline, with an extensive network of domestic and international flights. The company says it is cooperating fully with the probe.

Some Indonesian media reports have alleged that Pollycarpus has ties to the country’s intelligence agency. His lawyer denies that the pilot had any link to the intelligence service or any role in Munir’s death.