Tommy's prison term cutback meets protest

Tommy's prison term cutback meets protest

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legal experts have criticized the Supreme Court's decision to
reduce the prison sentence of the youngest son of former
president Soeharto from 15 years to 10 years for multiple crimes,
including ordering the murder of Supreme Court justice Syafiuddin
Kartasasmita.

Rudy Satrio, a criminal law expert at the University of
Indonesia's School of Law, said there was no legal reason for the
court to reduce the sentence of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

"It is true the Supreme Court has the authority to accept
requests for a judicial review or to reduce sentences, but there
was no legal reason whatsoever for the Supreme Court to reduce
the sentence in this case," he told The Jakarta Post over the
weekend.

Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan, who led the panel of five
justices hearing Tommy's request for a sentence reduction, said
on Friday the panel reduced the sentence because they believed
one of the four charges against Tommy should not carry a penalty.

He was referring to the charge of fleeing justice.

However, Rudy faulted Bagir's explanation. According to the
law, he said, for a defendant facing multiple charges a court
shall not hand down a sentence that exceeds the longest prison
term for one charge plus one-third.

The three other charges against Tommy, two on illegal
possession of firearms and explosives, and another on ordering a
murder, carry a maximum prison term of 20 years.

"A 15-year prison term is still in line with law even though
the Supreme Court acquitted him on the fourth charge. A 10-year
sentence could send the wrong message to people that killing a
judge is not a serious matter," Rudy said.

A member of the National Law Commission, Frans Hendra Winarta,
shared the same view, drawing a comparison with the United
States, where killing a Supreme Court justice is considered one
of the most serious crimes possible.

"It is weird. They are supposed to receive (legal)
protection," he said.

Frans, who is a senior lawyer, also pointed out that the two
men hired by Tommy to kill Syafiuddin received life sentences
while Tommy received a sentence reduction.

"The person who orders others to commit a crime should get a
harsher sentence. This is weird," he commented.

Bagir led justices Harifin A. Tumpa, Iskandar Kamil, Abdul
Kadir Mappong and Moegihardjo in hearing Tommy's judicial review.
He formed the panel after a previous panel of three justice,
which had been dealing with the review for about two years,
withdrew from the case.

Tommy requested in July 2002 a judicial review of the decision
by the Central Jakarta District Court, which sentenced him to 15
years in prison for masterminding the killing of Syafiuddin.

The murdered justice previously led a panel of justices that
sentenced Tommy to 18 months in prison in 2000 for corruption in
a multimillion dollar real estate deal.

After the sentence was handed down, Tommy went on the run for
more than a year before being captured in November 2001 and put
on trial for the murder of Syafiuddin.

A judicial review can be filed if new evidence emerges in a
case. The Supreme Court's decision on a judicial review is final
and binding.

The 43-year-old Tommy is now serving his sentence in Batu
Penitentiary in the Central Java city of Cilacap. Tommy could be
eligible for release soon, as the time he has already served,
plus remissions, will be deducted from the new sentence.

As a comparison, former Soeharto golfing buddy Bob Hasan was
given a conditional release from Nusakambangan Prison after
serving three years of a six-year prison term for graft.