Soeharto still unfit to stand trial: Prosecutor

JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, the chief prosecutor handling a graft case in which the former ruler has been implemented said on Thursday.

Prosecutor Muchtar Arifin said he had come to the conclusion after reading the evaluation on Soeharto's state of health conducted by a team of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) doctors.

"Based on the evaluation of tests conducted between Feb. 28 and March 28 by the RSCM team of doctors, we consider Soeharto still unable to face trial," Muchtar told journalists at RSCM.

Head of the medical team Ichramsyah A. Rachman said Soeharto was able to "take care of himself in a limited way".

"Now he can eat, take a bath and pray unassisted, but his activities need close monitoring," Ichramsyah said.

The medical report, however, revealed that Soeharto's cognitive problems remain, saying that he was very slow to speak and needed time to think before answering the doctors' questions.

Ichramsyah said the decision to declare whether aging Soeharto was fit for trial was up to the prosecutors, not the doctors.

The doctors on the RSCM team, according to Ichramsyah, alternately went to Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta, where Soeharto lives, every day since Feb. 28 to conduct medical checks. The doctors met twice to assess Soeharto's health.

Muchtar said the monitoring of Soeharto's health at his residence was scheduled to last until July 28, but asserted that the possibility of bringing the suspect to court in the distant future was wide open.

"We will resume the trial of Soeharto as soon as the medical team declares his health condition is good," he said.

He also said that the Attorney General's Office had requested money from the Ministry of Finance to cover the cost of Soeharto's medical treatment.

"For the time being, Soeharto's medical expense is being covered by RSCM," he said.

The Supreme Court recently upheld the South Jakarta District Court's decision to delay the prosecution of 79-year-old Soeharto, who has been charged in connection with a US$571 million corruption case, and to release him from house arrest because of his ailing health.

The court also ordered the Attorney General's Office to supervise his health care and cover his medical costs until he was declared fit for trial. (01)