Dian Kuswandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/22/2008 10:46 AM | National
Another person has revoked his testimony against former State Intelligent Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono, who is on trial for the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
A BIN agent identified only as Kawan, testified on Tuesday that his own testimony in a case file read by prosecutors was false.
"The testimony is different from what I had said to the police," Kawan told the South Jakarta District Court.
"Therefore, I retract my testimony and clarify that my statements in this court are the truth."
According to police Kawan testified last June that he had seen former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto visit the BIN office. Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the murder of Munir.
Kawan denied he had made the statement.
"I had never seen him (Pollycarpus). I knew him from the media," he said.
He also denied receiving orders from former BIN director Budi Santoso to monitor, track and hunt activists from the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).
"I never did it and I never testified that," Kawan said.
He added that he had trusted the detectives questioning him not to revise his testimony.
"I had just returned from Timor Leste and Bali when I testified to the police. I was very tired and the police asked me lots of questions," he added.
Kawan was the fourth witness to revoke his statement during Muchdi's trial.
Last month, Budi revoked his testimony through a letter he sent from Pakistan, where he is stationed. Prosecutors questioned the authenticity of the letter.
Agents Zondhy Anwar and Arifin Rahman also retracted their testimonies, denying they had seen Pollycarpus visit BIN.
Tuesday's trial session also saw the presentation of evidence from expert witness Joni Torino, a computer forensic investigator.
In his testimony, Joni said the police had asked him to copy the data from BIN's hard drives.
"The police wanted to find deleted documents from the hard drive," he said, adding that cloned data was 100 percent accurate.
With Joni's help, the police were able to find a recommendation letter from BIN to former Garuda president Indra Setiawan, asking him to assign Pollycarpus as a corporate security officer in the company. The assignment enabled Pollycarpus to fly on the same flight with Munir.
Munir was found dead on board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. The cause of death was poisoning by arsenic, which was administered during a stopover in Singapore.
Another person has revoked his testimony against former State Intelligent Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono, who is on trial for the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
A BIN agent identified only as Kawan, testified on Tuesday that his own testimony in a case file read by prosecutors was false.
"The testimony is different from what I had said to the police," Kawan told the South Jakarta District Court.
"Therefore, I retract my testimony and clarify that my statements in this court are the truth."
According to police Kawan testified last June that he had seen former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto visit the BIN office. Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the murder of Munir.
Kawan denied he had made the statement.
"I had never seen him (Pollycarpus). I knew him from the media," he said.
He also denied receiving orders from former BIN director Budi Santoso to monitor, track and hunt activists from the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).
"I never did it and I never testified that," Kawan said.
He added that he had trusted the detectives questioning him not to revise his testimony.
"I had just returned from Timor Leste and Bali when I testified to the police. I was very tired and the police asked me lots of questions," he added.
Kawan was the fourth witness to revoke his statement during Muchdi's trial.
Last month, Budi revoked his testimony through a letter he sent from Pakistan, where he is stationed. Prosecutors questioned the authenticity of the letter.
Agents Zondhy Anwar and Arifin Rahman also retracted their testimonies, denying they had seen Pollycarpus visit BIN.
Tuesday's trial session also saw the presentation of evidence from expert witness Joni Torino, a computer forensic investigator.
In his testimony, Joni said the police had asked him to copy the data from BIN's hard drives.
"The police wanted to find deleted documents from the hard drive," he said, adding that cloned data was 100 percent accurate.
With Joni's help, the police were able to find a recommendation letter from BIN to former Garuda president Indra Setiawan, asking him to assign Pollycarpus as a corporate security officer in the company. The assignment enabled Pollycarpus to fly on the same flight with Munir.
Munir was found dead on board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. The cause of death was poisoning by arsenic, which was administered during a stopover in Singapore.
