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.