JAKARTA, Aug 8 (AFP) - A senior police official sentenced to death for murdering his bodyguard has had his punishment commuted to life in prison by Indonesia's Supreme Court, an official said Tuesday.

Ferdy Sambo, a two-star general and former head of internal affairs for the national police, was named as a suspect after his bodyguard was found dead at Sambo's home in July last year, in a killing police were initially accused of covering up.

His months-long trial grabbed national headlines earlier this year and shone a light on a pervading sense of police impunity in the archipelago nation.

Supreme Court spokesman Sobandi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said in a statement aired on broadcaster Metro TV that judges had decided to revise "the qualifications of the crime".

As such, he added: "The penalty becomes life imprisonment."

Sambo was sentenced to death in February by a state court, and appealed in April to a high court, which upheld the sentence.

Tuesday's decision came after Sambo lodged an appeal in May to the country's highest court.

His wife, Putri Candrawathi -- who was also jailed for her role in planning the murder -- had her appeal approved and her 20-year sentence halved.

Sambo was accused of ordering a subordinate to shoot 27-year-old Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, and then firing a bullet into the wounded victim himself.

When Hutabarat's death came to light, police initially said another member of the security detail had killed him, having caught him sexually assaulting Sambo's wife.

Sambo and his wife were only arrested weeks later.

Police did not reveal the killing for days and said surveillance cameras were not working when Hutabarat was shot. The judge in the initial trial said CCTV footage was deleted by a Sambo subordinate.