Ulma Haryanto & Ronna Nirmala – The National Commission of Human Rights said on Thursday that it would reopen its investigation into the Mesuji case following new evidence of gross human rights violations by the police.

Johny Nelson Simanjuntak, commissioner of the body known as Komnas HAM, told the Jakarta Globe that the new evidence was an amateur video believed to have been shot during a clash in November 2010 between security officers and villagers occupying Register 45 in Mesuji district, Lampung.

The video, shown to the Globe, depicted security officers placing a machete in the right hand of a dying man who turned out to be 38-year old Made Asta, a villager who died from a gunshot wound.

Asta was seen lying on his left side, face down, his bottom covered in fresh blood, while 32-year old Nyoman Sumarta, also injured, was lying next to him.

The footage zoomed in on Asta's body, evidently weaponless, but in the next scene, his right hand was shown to be holding a machete. The machete then fell, was picked by a security officer and then placed again on his hand. In the background, people could be heard saying, "Place it again, place it again."

The camera then moved to another man, identified as Adj. Sr. Comr. Priyo Wira Nugraha, speaking on his mobile phone saying, "What else could I do? I was about to get stabbed."

According to a source, the presidentially appointed Mesuji fact-finding team was unaware of the video until a couple of days before wrapping up its investigation.

"When Denny [Indrayana, head of the fact-finding team] found out about this, he decided to keep the video from the others until the night before the team was supposed to present their report to the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs," the source said.

During the presentation, Denny, also the deputy justice and human rights minister, only mentioned that there were "inconsistencies between the chronology of the incident as described by the police and the villagers."

Last month, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution used an edited version of the video to make the claim that Asta had been armed when he was shot.

"That footage was only 14 seconds, the same one that we also received from the Lampung police. The other video is much longer, at least four minutes," said Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, a member of the fact-finding team and the executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam).

Saud said he was aware of the new version but had not seen it as it had been given directly to the coordinating ministry. But he said Priyo and another officer, Second Brig. Setiawan, were being interrogated for Asta's death.

"According to Priyo's statement, [Asta] was shot because he attacked," Saud said. "Setiawan, on the other hand, said he shot Asta because Asta wanted to stab Priyo from behind."