Lightweight Term for Heavyweight Offender

The Public Prosecutor has demanded a light 15-year jail term for Tommy, despite acknowledgement the defendant was guilty of all charges.

July 23, 2002

When Public Prosecutor Hasan Madani began reading his legal claim, Hutomo Mandala Putra aka Tommy Suharto, sitting in the defendant's chair with both hands folded on his lap, was visibly tense. His eyes fixed on Madani as the prosecutor read on. When Madani got to the part where he slowly intoned "…15 years in jail," all traces of tension vanished from Tommy's demeanor. But not from the audience packed into the temporary courtroom housed at

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