JAKARTA, July 26: An Indonesian court on Friday sentenced Tommy Suharto, the once untouchable youngest son of the former dictator, to 15 years in prison for the contract murder of a judge and for weapons possession.
“The panel of judges declares that Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the crimes,” said chief judge Amiruddin Zakaria at the end of one of the most dramatic trials in Indonesia’s legal history.
Tommy, who was absent from court due to what was described as a diarrhoea attack, was convicted of ordering the drive-by shooting of judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who in September 2000 had ordered him jailed for 18 months for a corrupt land deal.
The sentence was passed a year to the day after the judge was gunned down by two hitmen while driving to work.
Tommy, a millionaire playboy tycoon during his father’s rule, was also convicted of possessing two caches of arms and explosives and of fleeing from justice.
In November 2000 he had gone on the run to avoid serving the graft sentence but was captured last November.
He was jailed for a total of 15 years on all charges, the sentence which prosecutors had requested. The two actual hitmen were in May jailed for life.
The trial, which began March 20, was seen as a key test of Indonesia’s corruption-prone legal system and its fledgling democracy.
During the autocratic rule of Suharto senior from 1966 to 1998, the rich and powerful enjoyed virtual immunity from the law.
Zakaria said Kartasasmita “died in a tragic way. The act of the accused severely shook the law enforcement world generally and the judiciary in particular.”
He said Tommy’s possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives could have disturbed “security and civil order and caused uneasiness among the population.”—AFP
