PKI political prisoner dies

PKI political prisoner dies

JAKARTA: Death-row political prisoner, Soekatno, 69, of the
now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) died in hospital
yesterday.

The secretary of the Working Group for Service to Prisoners
(Pokja PLP-PGI), Gustav Dupe, said Soekatno died at 12:05 noon at
the Kramat Djati police hospital after suffering complications
from TB, lever and prostate problems.

"He was hospitalized on April 17. After treatment doctors
declared on May 2 that he was okay, and we took him back to
Cipinang prison," Gustaf said.

"However, he fell sick again last Tuesday and we took him back
to the hospital where he finally passed away. He has no children
and kin."

Soekatno was the former chairman of the PKI People's Youth
wing and a former legislator in the Gotong Royong House of
Representatives.

He was sentenced to death in 1971 under the 1963 Subversion
Law on charges of subversion against the state ideology of
Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

Other PKI members on death row are Asep Suryaman, Marsoedi,
Bungkus, and Nataneal Marsudi, who were sentenced in 1976.

Col. A. Latief, the then chief of the Jakarta Military
Command's Infantry Brigade was sentenced to a life imprisonment.

All are in East Jakarta's Cipinang prison. (aan)