Huzrin finds new home in Bandung jail

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung

Former Riau Islands regent Huzrin Hood, who was sentenced to two years for embezzling Rp 3.4 billion (US$377,777) from the regency's 2001 and 2002 budgets, has been registered as a new inmate at Sukamiskin prison in Bandung, West Java.

Officials said on Wednesday that Huzrin was transferred to the prison last Friday from Tanjung Pinang General Hospital, Riau Islands, where he was receiving treatment for heart and respiratory ailments.

The former regent was originally scheduled to enter Tanjung Pinang Penitentiary on July 2, after his appeal was turned down by the Supreme Court.

Due to his condition, however, the graft convict was admitted to Tanjung Pinang hospital for 42 days.

Sukotjo, correctional department head at the West Java Justice and Human Rights Agency, said Huzrin was sent to Sukamiskin prison upon orders from the director general of correctional institutions at the justice ministry.

"We just carried out an order from the central government. It is nothing special," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sukotjo could not explain the reasons behind imprisoning Huzrin in Bandung.

He said Huzrin would be treated the same as other prisoners, and that the former regent shared a cell with two other inmates.

Journalists were barred by the Sukamiskin warden on Wednesday from looking at the cell.

Sukotjo said Huzrin was not among the over 48,000 convicts who received sentence reductions from the President, as is customary in marking Independence Day, because he was serving a jail term of less than six months.