Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – More than three decades after Gen. Suharto seized power from President Sukarno, Sukarno's former bodyguard faced a court Friday for challenging the military's official version of the overthrow.

Sukardjo Wilardjito, 73, was arrested after he told a small public meeting that he was present when a group of army generals held guns to Sukarno's head and forced him to sign a document transferring power to Suharto on March 11, 1966.

According to the army and Suharto, Sukarno voluntarily surrendered control by signing the "Letter of Orders of March 11" – known by its acronym as Supersemar. Suharto interpreted this to mean that he had been installed as acting president.

"This trial is ridiculous," Budi Hartono, an attorney for Wilardjito, said Friday. "We are going back to the days before democratic reforms." For telling what he says is the truth, Wilardjito is charged with inciting public unrest and faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

But if his claim is proven to be true, it could dramatically alter how Indonesians view one of the bloodiest chapters in their history. It would also be an embarrassing blow to Suharto's already tarnished reputation. The former dictator was ousted from office by a pro-democracy uprising in May 1998 and is now fending off charges of massive corruption during his 32- year iron-fisted rule.

The downfall of Sukarno and rise of Suharto came after six generals were murdered on September 30 1965. Within hours of the killings, Suharto used his troops to crush what he maintained was an abortive communist coup.

Over the next two years as many as 500,000 leftists and Sukarno supporters were slaughtered in an army-sponsored massacre that the CIA characterized as "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century."

In 1967, Suharto banned public challenges to his official version of the coup, making it a criminal offense. Sukarno died under house arrest in 1970 and since then loyalists have privately denied he ever transferred power to anyone. Wilardjito was arrested in 1967 and spent six years in jail with other former bodyguards of Sukarno.

Wilardjito's attorney, Hartono, says his client has suffered enough and demanded the case be dismissed. He should have never been arrested," Hartono said. "His remarks did not trigger any violence."

State prosecutors in Yogjakarta said they charged Wilardjito on the basis of a Suharto-era law banning public statements that foment anti-government unrest. "We have evidence and witnesses from the police force to back the charges," prosecutor Anton Supedjo said.