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unungsitoli District Court in Nias, North Sumatra, sentenced 45-year-old Agusman Lahagu, the main player behind the murder of two tax officers, to life imprisonment on Tuesday, the stiffest sentence meted out for such a crime in the country’s history.

The prosecutor had demanded the death penalty and has appealed the sentence.

The panel of judges declared Agusman, a rubber trader, guilty of murdering two tax officers, identified as Toga Parada Fransriano Siahaan, 30, and Sozanolo Lase, 35, in April last year.

“Defendant Agusman Lahagu has been proven guilty for committing premeditated murder,” presiding judge Nelson Angkat said while reading out the verdict on Tuesday.

The judges also sentenced four other people involved in the murder, namely Bedali Lahagu, alias Ama Yusu, Anali Zalukhu, alias Ana, Desima Lahagu, alias Dedi and Budi Rahmat Gulo, alias Rama.

Bedali Lahagu, who is Agusman’s younger brother, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the judges handed down 10 year imprisonment sentences to the other three defendants, who were Agusman’s employees.

Toga and Sozanolo were killed on April 12 in Nias, while delivering a tax bill worth Rp 14.7 billion to the defendant.

The two tax officers were stabbed to death during a meeting that turned into a quarrel.

Shortly after the incident, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo responded by calling on the police to investigate the case.

Toga worked in the tax collection division at the Sibolga tax office, North Sumatra, while Sozanalo was a contract employee at the Gunungsitoli tax consultation and counseling office.

In the verdict, the panel of judges described the defendant’s actions as “sadistic and cruel”, which led to the deaths of the tax officers.

Agusman rejected the verdict, expressing disappointment and directly said that he would file an appeal, arguing that the killings would not have happened if the amount of the tax bill was not overburdening him.

“The tax officers pressured me with Rp 14 billion in tax bills for two years while I had just started the business in 2009,” he said.

He said he was not a businessman but just someone who collected rubber sap from people and transported it to a factory.