Ex-Indonesian Spy Cleared of 2004 Assassination of Military Critic

  31 December 2008

An Indonesian court has acquitted a former senior intelligence official charged with ordering the 2004 murder of a human rights activist.

Muchdi Purwoprandjono was facing a 15-year sentence for the death of Munir Said Thalib, who was poisoned by arsenic during a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Indonesia's Garuda Airlines.  Muchdi is a former deputy chief of the National Intelligence Agency. 

A Garuda pilot was sentenced to 20 years in prison for serving the arsenic to Munir.  A former Garuda chief was sentenced to one year in prison in connection with the murder.

Munir was an outspoken critic of the Indonesian military. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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