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omen'€™s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise has called for a review on a death sentence handed to Yusman Telaumbanua as he was apparently only 16 years old when he was declared guilty of murder.

'€œIf this is true then he should not have been given the death penalty. That'€™s why his case has to be reviewed to make sure of the truth and to ensure justice is done,'€ Yohana told reporters after visiting Yusman at Batu Penitentiary on Nusakambangan prison island, Central Java, on Wednesday.

Accompanied by National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait, Yohana said Yusman had confirmed that he was indeed only 16 years old when he was sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, Arist said there were inconsistencies in Yusman'€™s legal case and a review was needed for the sake of justice.

'€œDuring our meeting just now, Yusman said he did not understand the death penalty. He also was not accompanied by a lawyer during his questioning. That'€™s odd,'€ he said.

He said it was not a matter of bargaining over the death penalty but that Yusman should not have been sentenced to death if the information about his age was true.

'€œNeither Indonesian nor international law justifies a death penalty for children. The maximum penalty for them is 10 years'€™ imprisonment,'€ he said.

Quoting Article 37 (a) of the Child Rights Convention and Article 6 (5) of the Political and Civilian Rights Convention, Arist said the death penalty and life imprisonment could not be given to children.

This accounted for why Komnas PA would support a review of Yusman'€™s case to save the inmate from execution, he said.

Yusman of Nias regency, North Sumatra, was sentenced to death by the Gunungsitoli District Court in 2013 for the premeditated murder of three local gecko sellers in 2012.

Police are reportedly reinvestigating the case involving Yusman and another convict, Rihala Hia, especially the report that Yusman had been a minor at the time.

North Sumatra Police supervisory and operations head Adj. Sr. Comr. Gunawan Eko Susilo said he had been instructed to get details of the case at the Nias Police headquarters in Nias Island due to an earlier report by the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) about the case.

'€œWe have been instructed by the North Sumatra Police chief to reinvestigate the case,'€ Gunawan was quoted as saying by kompas.com last week.

He said the investigation would include looking into alleged violence during the questioning of the suspects at the Nias Police station three years ago.

He said the police had preliminary data, including from Kontras, which had provided Yusman'€™s baptism certificate issued by the Bethel Church showing that he had been 16 years old at the time.

'€œWe are collecting information on which Bethel church issued the baptism certificate,'€ he said.

Gunawan denied that any violence occurred during the questioning of Yusman at the Nias Police station.

'€œThe defendants'€™ lawyers have also stated that they had accompanied the suspects during their questioning at the time,'€ he said.

Yusman'€™s oldest sister, Yosa'€™ati Telaumbanua, who was born in 1985, has reportedly told the police that Yusman was currently 26 years old.

Yosa'€™ati, who is the wife of the convict Rihala Hia, said Yusman was only four years younger than her.