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Tuesday, 5 April, 2005, 08:02 GMT 09:02 UK

Indonesia widens air murder probe

Munir (picture courtesy Right Livelihood Award) Indonesian police have named two more employees of the country's national airline as suspects in the death of prominent rights activist Munir.

They are Oedi Irianto, who was working in the galley during the flight Munir died on, and stewardess Yeti Susmiarti.

They are the second and third official suspects in the arsenic poisoning of Munir, who died during a Garuda flight to Amsterdam on 7 September last year.

Last month police named Pollycarpus Priyanto, a former pilot, as the first.

They also announced plans to question and scrutinise the bank details of Garuda's outgoing director general, Indra Setiawan.

Colonel Anton Charlian, chief investigator of the case, said the two new suspects, Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiarti, were in charge of the meal Munir was served on the first leg of his flight - from Jakarta to Singapore.

They have been taken in for questioning, but have not been arrested, he added.

The two suspects' lawyer, Muhammad Assegaf, said his clients had done nothing wrong.

"I don't see anything strange when they did their job in preparing, serving and delivering food for Garuda passengers, including Munir," he said.

A government fact-finding team urged police on Tuesday to also question four other Garuda employees and two members of the state intelligence agency.

Death threats

Munir took up the cause of numerous activists who disappeared in suspicious circumstances, and also spoke out against the abuses committed by the Indonesian military across the country during the rule of former President Suharto.

He once said he had lost count of the number of death threats he had received.

Munir is said to have sent an SMS text message from Singapore airport, where his plane made a stopover, to his wife telling her he was feeling ill. A few hours later he was dead.

Garuda is a state-owned airline and many of its staff formerly served in the armed forces.




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Related to this story:
Indonesia widens Munir enquiry (23 Mar 05 |  Asia-Pacific )
Jakarta activist's wife threatened (22 Nov 04 |  Asia-Pacific )
Jakarta activist feared poisoned (12 Nov 04 |  Asia-Pacific )
Rights abuses dog Aceh rule (19 Nov 03 |  Asia-Pacific )
Suharto tops corruption rankings (25 Mar 04 |  Business )
Indonesia's flashpoints (01 Jul 04 |  Asia-Pacific )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
BBC Indonesian service
Imparsial
Indonesian Government
Aceh-eye
Human Rights Watch
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