Stefani Wijaya & Yustinus Paat, Jakarta – The body of Brigadier Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat was exhumed from a cemetery in Muarojambi in the province of Jambi, Sumatra Island, on Wednesday morning for examination to find the cause of his death.

Yosua, who worked as a personal assistant for a police general, was killed in a shootout with a fellow officer, according to an earlier statement from the National Police.

But his family suspected that foul play was involved in his death and dismissed police claim that the shootout erupted because he had harassed his boss' wife.

The July 8 incident in South Jakarta occurred at the official residence of Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, the head of the Internal Profession and Security Division for whom Yosua and his alleged shooter identified as Second Patrolman Richard Eliezer have been assigned to work, according to the police.

There is no suspect in the case, instead, police initially said it was Yosua who triggered the clash with Richard.

The family of Yosua has hired a team of lawyers who last week reported a murder case to the police and demanded a second postmortem.

The autopsy was conducted at Sungai Bahar General Hospital in Jambi, about two kilometers from the cemetery. The procedure was observed by representatives of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Police Commission (Kompolnas).

National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo promised to make public the postmortem report transparently. "We have a responsibility to the public to make sure that everything goes properly and to do justice," Sigit told reporters in Jakarta.

He suspended Ferdy from his post last week to allow a fair and independent investigation into the case.

Last seen alive

Yosua in his last phone message to his family said he accompanied Ferdy from Magelang in Central Java to Jakarta in a seven-hour trip, lawyers for the family have said.

Komnas HAM Commissioner Choirul Anam said the commission had been shown footage of when Yosua was last seen alive after a road trip from Magelang to Ferdy's residence on Jalan Duren Tiga, Jakarta.

The Komnas HAM watched 20 videos provided by the National Police's digital forensic team earlier on Wednesday, he said.

"The important part from those videos is the footage from Duren Tiga area, where there are Insp. Gen. Sambo and his entourage from Magelang. Sambo was the first to enter [the house] and after a few moments the other group from Magelang arrived and we could see [Sambo's wife] Madame Putri and Yosua. So Yosua was still alive when they arrived at Duren Tiga," Choirul told a news conference at his office in Jakarta.

He said the commission asked the police to share key evidence including security camera footage from Ferdy's official residence and from along the Magelang-Jakarta highway to learn the circumstances on the day of Yosua's death.

"We asked the revelation of everything related to digital forensic and cyber materials such as video footage or the content of [Yosua's] cellular phone," Choirul said.

President Joko Widodo also has a word on Yosua's death, saying he had ordered the National Police to conduct a thorough investigation and take stern measures if foul play was involved.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/remains-of-slain-policeman-exhumed-for-second-autops