The Garuda Indonesia pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, was traveling as a passenger on the first leg of the airline's flight from Jakarta to Singapore and gave Munir his seat in business class, authorities say.

Police said they had found sufficient evidence to identify him as a suspect in Munir's slaying but declined to provide details.

A presidential fact-finding commission earlier concluded that there was a conspiracy to kill Munir and that one or more Garuda employees probably were involved.

Munir, 38, had challenged the military regime of President Suharto and continued to criticize the armed forces after Suharto's fall in 1998. As founder and head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, also known as Kontras, Munir investigated the military's alleged role in the disappearance of civilians in Aceh province and East Timor, a former Indonesian province that gained independence in 2002.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 26, 2005
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