TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former convict for the murder of human-rights activist Munir Said Thalib, received his guidance termination letter signed by Chief of Bandung Class 1 correctional of the Law and Human Rights Ministry on Wednesday, August 29.
The termination letter marks the end of Pollycarpus’ sentence period for the crime he committed. “I am very glad for bearing no burden anymore,” said Pollycarpus at Bandung’s Class 1 correctional center on Wednesday.
Pollycarpus was sentenced to 14 years behind bars by Supreme Court’s judicial review panel of judges back in 2006. The former Garuda Indonesia pilot was found guilty for his implications in Munir’s death that was caused by arsenic poisoning.
He was initially scheduled to be released in 2022, but after receiving in total of 50-months sentence cuts, Pollycarpus was eligible for parole in 2014 under the condition that he periodically reports back to prison officers.
Read also: Pollycarpus, Convicted Killer in Munir Case, Freed
The former Garuda pilot maintains his innocence in the Munir murder case and claims there are numerous facts that can deny the allegations made against him. One of it, he says is that his profession as a pilot that makes him travel all across the globe.
“How would it benefit me? Secondly, with all due respect, I wake up and sleep in other countries. So I don’t have this type of expectation. But there are numerous cases like that in prison, a worker that does not smoke, does not drink, but suddenly gets accused of being a drug user. That is just their luck,” he said.
A Munir support group named ‘the civil coalition for Munir’s justice’ highlighted the fact that Munir received numerous prison sentence cuts that led to his freedom yesterday.
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation Head of Advocacy Muhammad Isnur said that Pollycarpus had not even served half of his initial sentence.
The coalition continues to press the Indonesian government to complete the case up to its core and capture the mastermind behind the Munir murder case. They also pushed the government to reopen the documents compiled by a fact-finding team specially made to handle the murder against Munir.
AHMAD FIKRI