Jakarta – An Indonesian court has dismissed a case against an author charged seven years ago with insulting former president Suharto by suggesting that the former dictator masterminded a 1965 coup blamed on the then-Communist Party of Indonesia.

The Jakarta Post quoted South Jakarta District Court presiding judge Muchtar Ritonga as saying he agreed with a prosecution request to drop all charges against the 67-year-old author, Wimanjaya K. Liotohe.

"... there are no legal grounds for continuing with the case," Ritonga was quoted as telling the court Tuesday, adding that the book was published when there was no freedom of expression under Soeharto.

A ban of the book Prima Dosa (Prime Sins), a compilation of newspaper articles, was revoked by the Attorney General's office after Suharto's fall in 1998, which made the charges groundless, the prosecutor had argued.

Suharto had publicly announced that the book, written in 1993, was a personal affront to him as it suggested that he masterminded the 1965 coup attempt. It was banned in January of 1994. Two of the author's other books, Prima Duka (Prime Sorrows) and Prima Dusta (Prime Lies) – also satirically critical of Suharto – were banned in November 1997. Those bans too have been lifted.

Wimanjaya first went on trial in January of 1998, only months before Suharto's fall in May, facing six years in jail – the maximum term for insulting the president.

The court put the case on hold, until it was reopened this month. "I am happy with the verdict, which reflects that there is now legal certainty in the country," Wimanjaya was quoted as saying.

In the wake of the 1965 coup, Suharto outlawed the Communist Party of Indonesia, then one of the world's largest, and all communist teachings.

He also presided over a bloody purge of communists which left at least 500,000 dead by official count and hundreds of thousands more jailed.