Ex-official held in Indonesia death
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JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Police on Thursday arrested a former top intelligence official suspected of involvement in the 2004 killing of a human rights activist who was poisoned on an airliner.
The announcement reflects a major break in the investigation of the killing of Munir Said Thalib, who exposed Indonesian military abuses during the U.S.-backed dictatorship of former President Suharto.
It is the first formal acknowledgment by authorities that the powerful National Intelligence Agency may have been involved.
Muchdi Purwo Prandjono, a deputy head of the intelligence agency at the time of the killing, was arrested after voluntarily appearing for questioning, said Abubakar Nataprawira, a police spokesman.
Muchdi and his lawyers were not immediately available for comment.
Munir died of arsenic poisoning on a commercial Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September 2004.
This year, the Supreme Court sentenced Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a 46-year-old pilot for Garuda Indonesia, to 20 years in prison for his role in Munir’s slaying.
An independent fact-finding team established by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acquired phone records showing calls between Pollycarpus and a phone registered to Muchdi before the killing.
Muchdi testified at Pollycarpus’ trial that someone had borrowed his phone to make the calls.
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