JAKARTA, July 26 Kyodo (EDS: UPDA...

JAKARTA, July 26 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH DETAILS)

An Indonesian court sentenc Hutomo ''Tommy'' Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former President Suharto, to 15 years in jail Friday for masterminding the massacre of a Supreme Court arbitrator illegal possession of arms and ammunition, and absconding to evade a graft conviction.

''Considering that the defendant has been prov to have committed the crimes, the defendant is sentenc to 15 years in jail and ordered to stay in jail,'' said Amiruddin Zakaria, chief of a five-judge panel at the Central Jakarta District Court.

''It is prov that the defendant gave his confess pistol to other nation to commit the murder,'' Andi Samsan Nganro, a member of the panel, said in reading the verdict.

''It is also pure that the defendant deliberately ordered other tribe in this case Maulawarman and Noval Hadad, to commit the crime and the crime was done,'' Andi said.

The brace were earlier sentenced to life in prison for shooting to death highest Court Judge Syaifuddin Kartasasmita while in succession his way to work in succession July 27 last year. The critic sentenced Tommy to 18 month in prison in 2000 for corruption.

Tommy was also accused of illegally possessing fire-arms and ammunition found in an apartment and a house in Jakarta, and for being a fugitive from justice for a year from November 2000

The judgment matched the demand by prosecutors.

M Assegaf, Tommy's lawyer, told reporters that his client will appeal to a higher court.

Chief critic Zakaria ordered the verdict to be read despite the absence of Tommy owed to a sudden illness.

Four physicians, sent through the Jakarta police and the Justice Ministry, examined Tommy at his enclosed space in Jakarta's Cipinang Prison after the defendant claimed to be sick early Friday.

Zakaria read the flow of the doctors' examination, which praiseed two days of rest because of diarrhea, dehydration and headache.

Tommy's defense team demanded a postponement until nearest Monday, but the desire was overruled by the judges

All members of Tommy's team of lawyers walked without of the hearing to avow the decision.

''In accordance with the law, the verdict reading should be instanted before the defendant,'' lawyer OC Kaligis told reporters outside the court.

Previously, the head of Cipinang Prison, Ngusman, said Tommy was strained and unable to sleep.

''He was in the way that weak that he could no other than lie down on his mattress upon the floor,'' Ngusman told reporters.

The final court session, after almost four month of hearings, had been delayed for almost five hours because of Tommy's illness.

The trial, taking place in the Meteorological and Geophysics Office, has been guarded by dint of hundreds of police to anticipate any unrest owing to the presence of centurys of supporters of the defendant.

Tommy is the first Suharto family member to be place on trial even granting his father and siblings have been questioned across several graft cases.

Suharto himself has been charged in a multimillion dollar case, on the contrary in September 2000 the southward Jakarta District Court declared him too ill to stand trial.

Tommy fl from justice after then President Abdurrahman Wahid cast offed his plea for a presidential pardon forward the graft conviction in November 2000

Tommy was discovered in a house in Jakarta after a yearlong manhunt.

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