Ulma Haryanto & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A rights group has corroborated earlier findings that the military used excessive force in a clash with farmers this month and even attempted to conceal the alleged crime.

Indriaswati Saptaningrum, executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said on Tuesday that a team of researchers probing the April 16 clash in Kebumen, Central Java, had concluded the Army had acted "beyond its authority" in firing rubber bullets at the farmers, injuring 14.

"Our fact-finding team found evidence that there had been an excessive use of force by the military," she said.

Elsam's findings agree with those announced earlier by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), which said the clash had been triggered primarily by a dispute over land used by the Army for live-fire exercises but claimed by the farmers as their own.

Elsam researcher Wahyudi Djafar said the group had also obtained video recordings of the incident, in which around 30 soldiers could be seen chasing and firing rubber bullets at farmers planting rice. He said this contradicted statements by the military that there had been no violations of standard procedures in the incident.

Wahyudi also said that while Elsam could not find strong evidence to back Kontras's claim that soldiers had fired live rounds at the farmers, the researchers did manage to find an empty shell casing in the home of one of the residents.

"We received reports that soldiers scoured the area twice in the evening [after the clash] to look for spent casings," he said. "We only found one, but we've noted its details. However, we can't conclude whether it was [a blank] or live."

While the victims' hospital records did not say explicitly what kinds of wounds they sustained, one of the nurses said the injuries had been caused by rubber bullets, Wahyudi added.

However, at a hearing before the House of Representatives, the Army commander of the Kebumen base denied firing at the farmers first. Col. Sumedy said the farmers had attacked first, armed with knives and sharp implements. He said the soldiers had responded by firing warning shots, which the farmers ignored.

"Finally the order was given to change the hollow shells [used for warning shots] with rubber bullets, in line with standard operating procedure, and fire on the attackers," he said.

Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said his office was conducting a probe into the violence. "Let's give the investigators time to finish the probe before we look into possible violations arising from the shooting," he said.