Jakarta – Former president Suharto could not be tried because of illness but it was up to prosecutors whether or not to take him to court again, the Supreme Court said yesterday.

"Because the medical team examining defendant Suharto has stated that he cannot recover, the defendant cannot be taken to court," Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan said in a legal opinion for the Attorney-General. "In respect to that, to determine whether or not to take the case of Suharto to court is the authority of prosecutors."

Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron hand for 32 years, failed to appear at both sessions of his trial in August last year on charges that he had embezzled some US$571 million of state funds.

Now fitted with a pacemaker, he has been treated at a state hospital here at least three times for various ailments, including a light stroke and intestinal troubles, since resigning in 1998. He has also suffered breathing and urinary complications, and underwent an emergency appendectomy.