Suharto son jailed for 15 years after ordering murder of judge

The youngest son of Suharto, the former Indonesian dictator, was jailed for 15 years yesterday for paying two men to murder a supreme court judge.

Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy, was found guilty of the murder of Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had sentenced him to 18 months in prison for corruption in September 2000.

The judge was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle a year ago yesterday. The hitmen have been given life sentences. Suharto, 40, who denied the charges, was also convicted of illegally possessing weapons and fleeing justice.

Andi Samsan Nganro, a member of the five-judge panel which reached yesterday's verdict, said Suharto had paid the killers 100m rupiah (£7,000). The gun used for the murder belonged to Suharto, he said.

The judges rejected pleas by the defence team to postpone the verdict until Suharto, who was ill with a stomach ache, could be present. The six lawyers responded by leaving the courtroom. Suharto has a week to appeal.

The former playboy has come to symbolise the excesses committed by Indonesia's ruling class during his father's 32-year reign, which ended in 1998 after widespread pro-democracy demonstrations.

The verdict came after a four-month trial that was marked by frequent courtroom outbursts by the defendant, witnesses recanting their stories and the brief detention of a defence lawyer for allegedly bribing witnesses.

The murder trial had been considered a test of the new Indonesia's ability to overhaul its notoriously corrupt judicial system. Some observers welcomed the verdict as a step forward for the reformers, but Iwah Setyawati, the widow of the murdered judge, said the sentence was too lenient.

"It hurts very much," Ms Setyawati told the El Shinta radio station. "This sentence is not enough. I have lost my husband. I have lost everything."

Earlier in the day, about 400 policemen carrying batons and handguns patrolled in and around the courtroom in Jakarta, where more than 100 people gathered to hear the verdict.

Because the proceedings went on for nearly 10 hours, most of the crowd in the courtroom had dispersed by the time the verdict was announced. Prosecutors had requested a sentence of 15 years, but the judges were at liberty to impose a stiffer sentence, including death. (AP)