Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Three enlisted soldiers were sentenced to five months in prison on Thursday for their involvement in assaulting dozens of Puncak Jaya residents in March.

The officers were Chief Pvt. Sahminan Husain Lubis, Second Pvt. Joko Sulistiono and Second Pvt. Dwi Purwanto.

The verdict, read out by presiding judge Lt. Col. Adil Karokaro at the Cendrawasih Military Tribunal in Jayapura, was heavier than the three months sought by military prosecutors. The panel of judges said the defendants had breached the Indonesian Military Code of Conduct.

The trial, slammed by critics as a red herring but trumpeted by Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as evidence of Indonesia's commitment to upholding human rights ahead of the visits of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama, has been called "misleading" and "a farce" by rights activists.

The trial began amid assurances that the defendants were soldiers who had appeared in a widely distributed video depicting the graphic torture of two Papuan men, Anggen Pugu Kiwo and Telengga Gire, that was recorded on May 30. The torture video shows the soldiers using burning sticks to scald the victims' genitals.

Last week, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) screened a half-hour testimony from Kiwo, who said he was imprisoned by soldiers for two days. Kiwo, a farmer, said he was walking with Gire when they were summoned by a group of soldiers. He was captured and separated from Gire.

He escaped after biting through the ropes tying his hands. During the ordeal, he was tortured and taunted by the soldiers.

However, when the trial of the four soldiers began, it became apparent that the four defendants had nothing to do with the events in the widely publicized video. Instead, the four soldiers were involved in a separate case that took place in March, which was also captured on video, but one that was much less disturbing.

Earlier on Thursday, the officer's superior, Second Lt. Cosmos, was sentenced to seven months in prison by the same court in the same case. Cosmos ordered his subordinate First Pvt. Ishak to record the beatings and kicking using Cosmos' cellphone.

Markus Haluk, a member of the Papua Customary Council, said he did not expect much from the trial, saying that an investigation by the Indonesian Military would be fruitless. Markus and other human rights activists have demanded that an independent fact-finding team probe reports of human rights violations in the resource-rich province.

He said the videos of beating and kicking in March and the Kiwo and Gire incident in May were only the tip of the iceberg as far as human rights violations by the military in Papua went.