Jakarta – An NGO and representatives from the EU expressed concerns at the rulings in trials over attacks on religious minorities in Cikeusik, Banten, saying they expected the government to pay serious attention to protecting minority groups.

"The EU delegation recalls the need to ensure that religious and other minorities are adequately protected by the justice and law enforcement systems, including through sufficiently dissuasive penalties for acts of violence directed against such minorities," read a press statement released by the EU on Thursday.

Human rights NGO Setara Institute said the panels of judges in the trials may have been under much pressure during the trials. It added that it felt that the entire judicial process was not conducted seriously.

"The heavy presence of hard-line demonstrators during the trials obviously affected the quality of the hearings, including the panels' integrity," Hendardi from the Setara Institute said in a press statement Thursday.

He added that the Setara Institute expected the Judicial Commission to examine the panels of judges to determine whether their integrity had been compromised.

Three members of the Ahmadiyah sect were murdered and dozens of others severely injured when they were attacked by a mob in Cikeusik early this year following weeks of growing anger at the Ahmadis by Islamic hardliners who hold that Ahmadiyah is heretical.