The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has formed an ad-hoc team to investigate human rights activist Munir Said Thalib’s murder that is deemed as a major human rights violation.
Human rights activist and founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Munir Said Thalib, born in 1965, was murdered by arsenic poisoning on a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands on September 7, 2004.
Komnas HAM Chairperson Ahmad Taufan Damanik confirmed that two commissioners, including himself, would represent the agency in the ad-hoc team.
“The first (ad-hoc team member) will be me, Ahmad Taufan Damanik, and the second (member) will be Sandrayati Moniaga,” Damanik stated here, Wednesday.
The human rights agency also received three names proposed by the public, including from human rights activists and the Solidarity for Munir Action Committee (Kasum), for inclusion into the ad-hoc team, he remarked.
“One of the three names proposed has responded and expressed willingness (to join the team), the person is Usman Hamid,” the commission head noted.
Two other names have been contacted, but they are not responding to the offer yet, he added.
The ad-hoc team will commence the pro-justitia investigation soon, and the team’s legal basis is Law No. 26 of 2000 on Human Rights Court, Damanik noted.
The final investigation report will be finalized at a plenary session to decide follow-up actions to the findings, he remarked.
“The plenary session will decide the legal status of the murder of Munir Said Thalib,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, Damanik stated that the Human Rights Commission designated September 7 as Human Rights Defender Protection Day.
“Since last year, we designated September 7 as Human Rights Defender Protection Day,” he remarked.
In addition, Commissioner Sandrayati Moniaga stated that September 7 was designated as the date in order to commemorate the killing of Munir Said Thalib on the same date in 2004.
Source: Antara News