Jakarta – Human rights groups on Tuesday called for a deeper investigation into the killing of an independence leader in Indonesia's Papua province, saying the conviction and jailing of seven soldiers haven't uncovered who gave the order for the slaying.

A military court on Monday found the members of the army's special Kopassus forces guilty of involvement in the 2001 death of Theys Eluay, who had campaigned for greater autonomy for Indonesia's easternmost province. The men weren't charged with murder but were found guilty of mistreatment and battery leading to Eluay's death.

Activists said the sentences, from 2 to 3 1/2 years, were too light. Four of them were also dismissed from the army. "While we've seen people sentenced, we haven't seen justice. A lot of information hasn't come out," said Sidney Jones from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "Clearly Papuans are very unhappy with the rightness of the sentence. It is still extremely unclear who gave the order and why," she said.

Eluay was slain on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Jayapura, as he drove home from a dinner hosted by the local regiment of the army's special forces unit.

"From the start, we were very disappointed with the trial," said Anum Siregar, Eluay's lawyer and an activist with the Irian-Alliance of Democracy for Papua. "They were found guilty of battery leading to death but the trial should have been about pre-planned murder. This means that we will never know who were the real players behind it."

Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, covers the eastern half of New Guinea island and was a Dutch colony until Indonesia annexed it in 1963. The takeover was formalized in 1969 through a UN-sponsored vote by traditional leaders. For years rights groups and independence activists claimed the ballot was a sham. A loosely organized guerrilla group has been fighting for Indonesian rule.

Eluay's death sparked mass protests and energized an independence movement that had largely been ignored by the international community and weakened by internal political divisions. The Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights last week asked the Indonesian army to halt all operations in Papua and transfer power to the police. "The operation against civilians has included illegal detention, torture of detainees, burning down of homes, and a reintroduction into Papua of Indonesia's notorious Kopassus [special forces]," the center said in a statement.

Jones said Jakarta should tackle Papuan human rights and autonomy issues. "Unless and until the central government addresses the grievances, we are not going to see a reduction in the independence movement there," said Jones.