Graft convict dies in prison

TANGERANG: Former secretary of the Banten Provincial Council H. Tardian died at the Serang Penitentiary on Thursday evening after serving only two months of his one-year prison term for his role in a Rp 14 billion corruption case involving several top leaders in the province.

An official at Serang General Hospital's emergency ward, Indra, said on Friday that an autopsy revealed Tardian had already died before being taken to the hospital at about 5:30 p.m.

The family of the deceased man had claimed the body and taken it to his hometown in Pandeglang, West Java, to be buried, he said.

An officer at the Serang Penitentiary, Budi Raharjo, said that Tardian had complained of breathing problems at about 4:50 p.m. and that officers had immediately rushed him to hospital.

The deceased had twice complained of illness since being incarcerated in the jail in late October, and had been treated at the Serang Hospital on both occasions.

"We saw him chatting with some of his inmate friends just a few minutes before he died," Budi Raharjo said. --JP