Jakarta – An Indonesian judge has ruled that the dropping of a long-running corruption case against former dictator Suharto was illegal and ordered the case reopened.

It was not immediately clear whether an appeal could be launched against the decision. The attorney-general's office announced last month that it had dropped a case against the ailing ex-president, who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars of state assets during his 32-year rule, due to his poor health.

Judge Andi Samsang Nganro, the judge reviewing so-called "pre-trial" suits against the office launched by three activist groups, backed their claim that the procedure the office followed had been illegal. "The case in the name of Suharto should be reopened and continued," Nganro said in his verdict.

Under the Indonesian legal system, a pre-trial suit challenges the legality of the pre-trial process, including decisions to drop cases.

Nganro said the penal code only permitted a case to be dropped if it was outdated, had already been heard in court or its defendant had died. "It cannot be halted based on a mere interpretation," Nganro said.

The attorney-general's office based its decision to drop the case on an interpretation of a Supreme Court decree which had recommended that Suharto only face trial if and when his physical condition improved. The office argued it could not implement the decree as Suharto's health had deteriorated too much.

Marwan Effendi, representing the attorney-general's office, said his team wanted time to decide whether to appeal. But Johnson Panjaitan, one of the plaintiff's lawyers, told the court that such a decision in a pre-trial ruling could not be appealed.

Due to ill health Suharto has never taken the stand for corruption charges levelled against him in 2000. These accuse him of misusing more than 500 million dollars from charitable foundations he set up during his rule.

The suits were filed by the Indonesian Association of Legal Attorneys and Human Rights Counselors, the so-called Advocacy Team for the Trial of Suharto, and an unnamed group of former student activists who opposed Suharto's rule.

Suharto, 85, stepped down amid mounting unrest in 1998 after ruling Indonesia with an iron grip.