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INDONESIA – Five years pass: KontraS cries for justice for Munir

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munirs_campaign.jpgSeventh of September this year marked the 5th anniversary of murder of Munir Said Thalib, former chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). KontraS, FORUM-ASIA member in Indonesia, issued the statement below on the day calling on the Indonesian government to "leave no stone unturned to facilitate that the truth be ferreted out".
munirs_campaign.jpgSeventh of September this year marked the 5th anniversary of murder of Munir Said Thalib, former chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).
KontraS, FORUM-ASIA member in Indonesia, issued the statement below on
the day calling on the Indonesian government to "leave no stone
unturned to facilitate that the truth be
ferreted out".

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the murder of the
former AFAD Chairperson, Munir. It has been five years ago since our
Federation received a text message about the sudden death of Munir.
Incredible was the message we received about the death of a man who, at
the prime of his life, was contributing to a large measure, to the
cause of human rights and democratization process of Indonesia and in
the rest of the world. More revolting was it to know, two months later,
that the most courageous human rights defender of Indonesia was
poisoned by a lethal dose of arsenic allegedly by elements of the
military intelligence in Indonesia, the BIN.

Five years have
passed. While Pollycarpus, the Garuda pilot implicated for the murder,
and former Garuda president Indra Setiawan were found guilty and
sentenced for twenty years and 12 months imprisonment, the news about
the acquittal of Major General (ret.) Muchi Purwopranjo is a
manifestation of continuing impunity in Indonesia. For this, the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and the rest of the
international movement against enforced disappearances continue to cry
for truth and justice for Munir.

A week prior to the anniversary
of Munir, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
visited Indonesia to conduct series of activities related to the entry
into force of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance. The series of activities from September 1-6
were culminated with our participation in the every Thursday rally in
front of the Presidential Palace. It was the 125th day since the
families of the disappeared and other victims of human rights
violations in Indonesia, inspired by Argentina's Madres de Plaza de
Mayo, have been weekly conducting their protest demonstration. On that
occasion, representatives of AFAD from the Philippines and Nepal and of
its Latin American counterpart, the Latin American Federation of
Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees were physically
present. Their presence was a concrete manifestation of solidarity with
Suciwati and her family and with Munir's larger family of victims of
the 1965 massacre; the 1998 riot resulting in killings, imprisonment
and disappearances of persons, the Tanjung Priok victims and many other
victims and defenders of human rights in a country devastated by 32
years of dictatorship.

As the present administration of
President Sucilo Bambang Yudhoyono has received a landslide victory and
will soon officially receive a new mandate in October 2009, AFAD once
again calls on the Indonesian government to leave no stone unturned to
facilitate that truth be ferreted out, justice be served and that the
mastermind of Munir's treacherous murder be punished to the full extent
of the law.

Munir spent several years of his life as a human
rights defender to the cause of the disappeared. He actively
participated in the drafting and negotiation process of the UN
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. An apt tribute for Munir during his 5th death
anniversary is the Indonesian government's ratification of the UN
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. Thus, on this occasion, as we seek for justice for Munir
and for all victims of human rights violations, we reiterate our call
to the Indonesian government for the immediate ratification of the UN
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. It will be an apt tribute to Munir and the most precious
gift which the Indonesian government can give to the families of the
disappeared whom Munir lived and died for.