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In response to new report by British geologist Richard Davies that said the Sidoarjo mudflow was caused by human error, East Java Police on Friday said reopening the case was a possibility.

On Thursday, a group led by experts from Britain’s Durham University released new evidence in a paper published by the Marine and Petroleum Geology journal pointing out that the catastrophe was caused by an operating procedural error.

However, drilling firm PT Lapindo Brantas, a part of Golkar Party head Aburizal Bakrie’s business empire, maintains in the same journal that the Lusi mud volcano was unleashed by an earthquake at Yogyakarta, 280 kilometers away and two days earlier.

The mud from Lusi has been devouring land and homes in Sidoarjo district since May 2006, imperilling as many as 100,000 people through subsidence and inflicting $4.9 billion worth of damages, according to an estimate by an Australian expert.

“As long as someone files new evidence then there is possibility of re-opening the case,” said Pudji Astuti, spokeswoman for the East Java Police. “However, the police still can’t ask Davies to Indonesia to elaborate on his findings because our investigations is over.”

But she added that if there was a new report with new evidence than the police had an obligation to check on the report even though there was no new case.

On August 2009, the East Java Police stopped the probe due to lack of witnesses to confirm a correlation between the mudflow and drilling activities at the company’s Banjar Pandji I well.

Nurkholis, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said knowledge knows no boundaries so it would be valid to use Davies’ research to prove the case.

“The debate surrounding this case was the back and forth arguments about whether it was caused by human error or natural disaster,” Nurkholis said. “The findings from Davies’ research are facts to strengthen the case for human error. As long as there is new evidence then the case can be reopened.”

Taufik Basari, a lawyer for the mudflow victims, said the key was how far the police were willing to go to uphold the law.

“This evidence is being spread out in front of their face, they just need to include it as additional proof, but until this day they are not being active in carrying out their duties,” said Taufik, adding that the mudflow case should be made part of the drive to clean up the judicial mafia.

Furthermore, he said foreign research could be included as evidence because it was based on scientific methodology and the writers had a proficient background in the field.

“It is just illogical to stop the investigation because of a so-called lack of proof — find the daily reports [from the drilling activities], get an expert to interpret them. You don’t need to dig out the mud to collect the visible evidence,” he said, adding that it would be very difficult reopen the case if the law enforcement system was not reformed.

Meanwhile, Yuniwati Teryana, Lapindo’s vice president for public relations, said the court had already reached a final decision in 2008 after a very long process involving expert witnesses with their own opinions.

“The court decided that the mudflow was caused by a natural phenomenon and not an industrial mistake, the drilling was conducted according to procedures,” said Yuniwati, citing the Supreme Court’s decision in 2009.

“If there are other sides with different opinions, we cannot forbid them as long as they are supported by facts that can be accounted for,” she said.

Davies, who has been studying the Sidoarjo mud volcanoes since it erupted in 2006, said he was 99 percent confident that the drilling was the cause.