Supreme Court rejects Garuda’s appeal in Munir case

JAKARTA. The Supreme Court has rejected national flagship carrier PT Garuda Airlines’ appeal in the case of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib’s murder.

The airline was ordered to pay Rp 664,209,000 (US$ 75,000) to the activist’s wife. Choirul Anam from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) said Suciwati, Munir’s wife, was pleased to hear the news. “She hopes that this can be an inspiration for future activism for victims,” he said.

Munir was poisoned with arsenic during a flight to Amsterdam in 2004. Suciwati filed charges against Garuda two years later. She requested that Garuda apologize and pay Rp 3.38 billion in compensation.

The Central Jakarta District Court determined that Garuda’s former president director Indra Setiawan and the plane’s captain Pantun Matondang were negligent for failing to perform an emergency landing when Munir required medical attention.

The Supreme Court made its decision on Jan. 28, 2010. Choirul said he just received the news on Thursday. (The Jakarta Post)