Heru Andriyanto – The National Commission for Human Rights said on Thursday it would look into the murder conviction of former anti-graft czar Antasari Azhar following claims that the case against him may have been fabricated.

Hesti Armiwulan, deputy chairwoman of the commission, told the Jakarta Globe that the examination would involve rights activists and legal practitioners and would be held openly.

"The planned examination is not meant to interfere with the legal proceedings," she said. "We expect the process to result in a recommendation that will be forwarded to the government and its law agencies."

The commission's decision follows calls for it to probe claims made by graft convict Gayus Tambunan that the murder case against the former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was concocted.

Antasari was convicted last February of ordering the March 2009 murder of businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court.

Gayus claimed that prosecutor Cirus Sinaga, who oversaw his first trial and the Antasari trial, was not implicated by police in his case out of fear that he would reveal the fabrication of the case against Antasari.

Hesti said the commission's main objective was to determine if justice was served and if human rights principles were taken into consideration in the controversial murder trial.

She said the commission could not prevent the Antasari camp from using its recommendation as part of its argument in requesting a future case review into the conviction and the 18-year jail term.

Muhammad Assegaf, a lawyer for Antasari, said on Sunday that his team planned to visit Gayus in his cell to "dig for more information concerning his remarks."

"That increased our long-held belief that the murder case had been fabricated," Assegaf said by telephone. "How come Gayus said something that had nothing to do with his own case? He must know something. Cirus must know something."