Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court ruled Monday that a decision to drop graft charges against former president Soeharto was invalid, and ordered the case reopened.
"I hereby declare that the decision of the Attorney General's Office in stopping the prosecution of the case against Haji Muhammad Soeharto on May 11 is illegitimate," Judge Andi Samsan Nganro decreed.
The decision was cheered by members of three NGOs – the Association of Advocate and Indonesian Human Rights (APHI), the Society Movement for Soeharto Prosecution (GEMAS) and the 1998 Activists – who filed suit over the AGO's decision.
"The AGO's decision did not comply with the standard procedures in stopping the prosecution of a case, as mentioned in Article 140, point 2 of the Criminal Court Procedures. It means that the prosecution of Soeharto's case should be reopened and carried out," Andi said in explaining the court's decision.
It also found that desisting from further prosecution contravened a February 2002 Supreme Court order that the AGO ensure Soeharto receive all necessary medical treatment so he would be fit to be brought to trial.
Andi also said that the Attorney General's Office had to be careful in interpreting all regulations on ceasing prosecution.
According to the procedures, a case may be dropped if the suspect dies or there is a demand for the measure because it will be beneficial to the public.
On May 12, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh cited the former reason in announcing the dropping of charges, a decision made the previous day, and said Soeharto's health condition was considered not dissimilar to that of a grave state. At the time, Soeharto had been hospitalized for a month due to internal bleeding; he was released at the end of the month.
The AGO's counsel, Marwan Effendi, said the defense team was considering its next course of action, including lodging an appeal.
"The AGO and the court have different interpretations on legality of ending Soeharto's case prosecution." Marwan argued the AGO had considered several alternatives for resolving the prolonged legal case, including requesting an in-absentia trial, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Chief attorney for the NGOs' legal team, Johnson Pandjaitan, said the court decision increased the possibility of the octogenarian being tried in absentia. "Soeharto is only one of the dozens of people that could be brought to trial in relation to corruption cases in his foundations," Johnson said.
Soeharto allegedly misappropriated at least US$419 million plus another Rp 1.3 trillion of state money through the foundations.
Johnson did not believe the decision would be struck down if it went to appeal. "The new Supreme Court Law states that the judge's decree in this trial is inkraach, or final," he said.