Arientha Primanita – Thirteen East Java Police officers have been formally disciplined over an investigation that led to the convictions of two men for a murder they did not commit, a National Police spokesman said on Friday.

"Thirteen police officers from the Jombang district police and Bandar Kedungmulyo subdistrict police have been brought before the National Police commission over breaches of the code of ethics," Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira said.

The officers were involved in the investigation that led to the trials of Devid Eko Prianto, Imam Hambali and later Maman Sugianto for the murder of a man named Asrori.

A body believed to be that of Asrori, 21, was found in a sugarcane field in Jombang in September 2007. Devid and Iman went on trial for the murder and were sentenced to 17 and 12 years in jail, respectively, while Maman's trial was still ongoing when an unexpected turn occurred.

The one thing [the officers] have in common is that they have to apologize to the victims, directly or indirectly said Abubakar Nataprawira, police spokesman.

Asrori was identified as one of the 11 bodies found buried in the backyard of a home in Jombang, all believed to be victims of high-profile serial murder suspect Verry "Ryan" Idham Henryansyah.

Based on this new evidence, the lawyers of Devid, 19, and Imam, 35, filed for a case review. On Dec. 3, the Supreme Court reversed the convictions of the two men, who had already been detained for some 13 months.

The panel of judges hearing the case against Maman, 28, subsequently acquitted him on Dec. 18.

The three have since said that they had been forced under torture to confess to the murder.

The body found in the sugarcane plantation was later identified as Fauzin Suyatno. Another man, Rudi Hartono, has been arrested by Jombang Police for the murder.

"The head of the local subdistrict police and his chief detective will not be able to conduct investigations for about one or two years," Abubakar said, adding that the penalties given to the 11 other officers would depend on their roles in the case.

"The one thing they have in common is that they have to apologize to the victims, directly or indirectly," Abubakar said.

The police investigators and their assistants were also removed from the detective unit, the spokesman said.

Abubakar said that East Java Police Chief Herman Sumawiredja had handed over compensation money to the three wronged victims – Rp 20 million ($1,780) each for Devid and Imam and Rp 10 million for Maman.

Rights activists have long accused the police of using torture to extract confessions from suspects.