JAKARTA – An Indonesian court has acquitted a former state intelligence agent of ordering the murder of a prominent rights campaigner.
Associated Press reported that a panel of judges cleared retired major-general Muchdi Purwoprandjono of all charges.
Munir Thalib died of arsenic poisoning on a flight with national carrier Garuda in 2004. He led a campaign that exposed rights abuses by the military under late dictator Suharto.
Prosecutors had demanded a 15-year sentence for Purwoprandjono, saying he had ”planned and ordered” Thalib’s murder.
The Supreme Court sentenced a former pilot in January to 20 years in prison for carrying out the murder.
