Suharto Son Is Charged in Indonesian Judge’s Killing

Former President Suharto’s flamboyant son, Tommy, was formally charged Thursday with the murder of a Supreme Court judge in a case seen as a test of Indonesia’s corrupt legal system.

The trial of Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy, was expected to begin in a week to 10 days, court clerk Utol Sidapalok said. State prosecutors filed the charges in Central Jakarta District Court.

The onetime billionaire playboy is accused of involvement in the killing in July of a Supreme Court judge who had sentenced him in September 2000 to 18 months in jail over a multimillion-dollar land scam, prosecutor Andi Rachman Asbar said.

Tommy also is charged with illegal possession of weapons and fleeing from justice, Asbar said.

Tommy, the most prominent of Suharto’s six children, has denied masterminding the slaying. The trial of two men charged with the actual killing is underway.

If found guilty of murder, Tommy could be sentenced to death. He is being held in a prison in Jakarta, the capital.

Critics fear that Tommy has enough money and friends in high places to bribe his way to freedom in Indonesia’s notoriously corrupt legal system.

Tommy went into hiding shortly after the court decision 18 months ago. He was recaptured in November in a south Jakarta house after a massive manhunt.

During his disappearance, four men on motorcycles shot and killed Justice Syaifudin Kartasasmita--the presiding judge in Tommy’s graft trial.

Tommy’s father ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years before he was forced from office in 1998 amid riots and pro-democracy protests.