Former Garuda Indonesia head arrested over murder case

The former president of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was arrested Saturday after being named a suspect in the murder of renown rights activist Munir Said Thalib nearly three years ago.

Indra Setiawan was brought to the police cell hours before dawn Saturday, local TV stations reported.

Another Garuda executive, air attendant Rohainil Aini, was also named suspect and put in detention after Indra.

Munir, a strong critic of the military, was found dead on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sep. 7, 2004. An investigation by Dutch authorities found a large amount of arsenic in his body, indicating that he had been poisoned to death.

Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari was the sole suspect in earlier police investigation and he was found guilty by lower court verdict.

But the Supreme Court last year overturned the verdict and acquitted him of all charges.

Pollycarpus was an off-duty Garuda pilot who was aboard the same plane and reportedly offered his business seat to Munir.

Source: Xinhua