A fact-finding team from the National Commission on Human Rights found preliminary indications of human rights abuses in the trial and conviction of three people accused of murder, saying they were seeking further information from prosecutors and police who had investigated the case.

Nur Kholis, who led the team, said preliminary indications of abuses were based on information obtained during their meeting with two convicted men -- Imam Khambali, alias Kemat, and David Eko Priyanto -- at the Jombang prison Wednesday.

"Today we will hold a hearing with prosecutors from the Jombang district attorney's office and with police investigators assigned to the case," Nur Kholis told The Jakarta Post by telephone Thursday.

Following the team's visit to the prison, they also met with the families of the three prisoners in Kalasemanding Village, Jombang. "We are satisfied with our visit. The relatives have honestly described the case and have given the police information to help their investigation."

Nur Kholis said his own investigators -- Akhmad, Elfanturi and Imelda Saragih -- had based their preliminary findings on the two prisoners' explanations they had confessed under physical and mental duress while undergoing police interrogation.

"Investigators are not allowed to use pressure to seek information or confessions from suspects. The way they were interrogated was an abuse of their human rights," Nur Kholis said.

The four-member team came to Jombang on Wednesday following many appeals to the national rights body to probe alleged violations in connection with the purportedly wrongful arrest of the two convicted men and another man currently up on murder charges for the same crime at the Jombang District Court.

Khambali and David were sentenced in May to 17 and 12 years in prison, respectively, and are currently serving their time. The third man, Sugianto, alias Sugik, is also accused of murder in the same case and may face a sentence of 15 years imprisonment.

The three were arrested by the police because they were suspected of killing a man named Asrori whose body, according to police reports, was recovered in a sugarcane plantation in Bandar Kedungmulyo village, Jombang, sometime in September 2007. The body's identification was based on an autopsy conducted at the Jombang General Hospital.

Discrepancies emerged when Jombang serial killer Verry "Ryan" Idham Henyansyah confessed to killing Asrori, burying the body in Ryan's parents' backyard in Jatiwates, Tembelang district in the regency. According to the results of a DNA test conducted by the National Police, the body recovered in the sugar plantation turned out to be Fauzin Sugianto, a resident of Ploso district in Nganjuk.

Despite the contradictory DNA test results, Jombang police denied wrongly arresting the three and resumed further investigations into the three's alleged involvement in Fauzin's murder.

Several police officials in Jombang and at provincial police headquarters who are responsible for the investigation have been reportedly transferred to other provinces, creating technical obstacles as the fact-finding team pursues their inquiry.

The Jombang District Court is also reopening the murder trial at the request of lawyers representing Kemat and David. The new case will take into consideration the new DNA results and facts presented in the press. In last week's hearing, lawyers for the defendants asked the panel of judges that police investigators testify on how they interrogated the three and witness statements confirming the three men had not signed their dossiers.

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