Soebandrio, 90; Former Indonesian Foreign Minister

Soebandrio, 90, a former Indonesian foreign minister who spent 29 years in prison during the U.S.-backed dictatorship of strongman Suharto, died Saturday at his home in Jakarta of natural causes.

A doctor by training, Soebandrio, who like many Indonesians used a single name, was a close associate of Sukarno, the nation’s founding president and father of current head of state Megawati Sukarnoputri. The physician served as foreign minister from 1960 until Sukarno’s downfall in 1966.

An associate of the country’s Communist Party, Soebandrio was accused by right wing army leaders of supporting a mutiny on Sept. 30, 1965 in which six generals were killed. Suharto used the mutiny as a pretext for launching a massive attack on the Communist Party, and soon replaced Sukarno as president and banned the communists.

Soebandrio was arrested and sentenced to death in 1966. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment upon the intervention of the British government, and he was released in 1995 because of failing health. Three years later, Suharto was ousted in pro-democracy protests.