It is obvious that two men have been wrongly judged guilty and sentenced in a murder case in East Java. The error is backed up by evidence that the real killer of the poor man was a serial killer. Even so, the four parties responsible for the scandalous trial -- in particular the police and, ironically, their lawyer -- have showed no regret at all.

The two men convicted had, in fact, admitted to the crime during the trial. But they pled guilty because they had been so severely tortured by police that they had made a false confession. This case is at least the third time police are on record for having tortured defendants to admit to a murder they did not commit.

In 1977, the Bekasi district court sentenced Sengkon and Karta to 12 and seven years respectively for killing Sulaiman. It was later proved police had tortured them to extract a false confession. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict and ordered their release in 1981.

In 2002 Budi and his mother, along with their housemaid, were forced by Bekasi police to admit they had killed Budi's own father. They were later acquitted in court. The police found the real murderer several months later.

Though 31 years have passed since the Sengkon-Karta case, the police still use physical or psychological torture on suspects. It is not difficult to prove police still frequently use torture and violence against alleged criminals; just go to any police detention site and spend some time there during the questioning of suspects.

Police, prosecutor, defense lawyer and judge are the cornerstones of the legal system. When this most recent mistake came to light, prosecutors quickly blamed police and the court blamed the prosecutors' office. The two men's lawyers even jumped on the bandwagon, supporting the police's denial they had used brutality to force the two men to confess.

Such examples only strengthen negative public perception about those who enforce our laws. It is true, however, the Attorney General's Office reported it has issued an apology to the families of the two victims for their wrongful conviction.

The spokesperson for the National Police, Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira, needs to remember public confidence in the police is especially low because of their alleged corrupt and violent behavior. Abubakar perhaps did not realize the public found the message he had sent ridiculous. He said, "Police can do no wrong", when he adamantly disputed allegations the police had erroneously sent two people to jail in Jombang last May.

If we may make a friendly suggestion, the police inspector general would have better served his institution if he had humbly said it was quite possible police had committed blatant mistakes in this murder case.

We recommend he reiterate his department's commitment that police will make sure the rights of innocent victims are restored and will continue to hunt for the real murderer.

In a separate statement, East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Herman S. Sumawiredja admitted police negligence in handling the 2007 murder case in Jombang.

A DNA test has already confirmed the claim by serial killer Verry Idham Henyansyah, alias Ryan, that he had killed Muhammad Asrori, not the three men arrested by police: Imam Chambali, Devid Eko Priyanto and Maman Sugianto. Last May, Jombang District Court sentenced Imam and Devid to 17 and 12 years in prison, respectively. Maman is still on trial.

The Jombang prosecutors' office received a dossier from the police although the evidence was only a post mortem examination record, statements from Asrori's parents confirming the body was their son and the suspects' confession they had killed Asrori. DNA testing, however, proved the body did not belong to their son. Their son had been buried along with 10 others in Ryan's parents' backyard.

Abubakar insisted police were confident the three men had killed someone, but the victim was in fact another man, also named Asrori by coincidence. Abubakar apparently forgot Imam and Devid were already in prison for killing the first Asrori, whose body had been found behind Ryan's graveyard. Even if police have evidence to back up their new claim, it is very clear the two men did not kill the Asrori mentioned in both the verdict and the dossier. The National Police is currently re-conducting DNA test on Asrori. Chambali and Devid should therefore be freed and Maman's trial stopped because of the wrongful accusations and verdict, regardless whether police present further charges on the killing of the second man.

Wrongful imprisonment and even execution of innocent people happens often enough in other countries. Indonesia does not hold the monopoly on incompetent and corrupt law enforcement. But there is no reason to continue blindly defending law enforcement instead of righting this wrong.

Knowing our legal system easily sent innocent people to jail in East Java, we need to remember that those enforcing the law can just as easily acquit the guilty, especially those who offer and accept bribes.

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