JAKARTA, Indonesia_An Indonesian court has ordered the national airline to compensate the widow of a prominent human rights campaigner poisoned on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam nearly three years ago.
Garuda Airlines was instructed to pay 660 million rupiah (US$73,000) in damages for negligence in the death of Munir Said Thalib, Presiding Judge Andriani Nurdin said Thursday.
But Munir's wife, Suciwati, was disappointed by the decision at the Central Jakarta District Court.
"We wanted them to apologize and be audited for the sake of other passengers," she said. "But both requests were denied."
The only suspect in the murder, an off-duty Garuda pilot, was acquitted last year by an appeals court after having been convicted to 14 years in prison by a lower tribunal.
Police investigators say new evidence indicates Munir was poisoned with arsenic on Sept. 9, 2004, at Singapore's Changi Airport while transiting to a European flight. He died several hours later in the air.
Two Garuda officials were arrested last month on suspicion of having forged documents. But pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto is still considered the chief suspect, even though he cannot be tried again on the same murder charges.
Suciwati and rights activists say Pollycarpus carried out the murder for the military intelligence to revenge his work in exposing rights abuses by the army.
