Son of Indonesia's ex-dictator Suharto adjudges to jail

Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of Indonesia's former dictator, had his jail sentence for murdering a judge reduced by 45 days to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, officials said Tuesday.

Suharto was convicted in 2002 of hiring two hit men to assassinate a judge who had earlier convicted him of corruption in a multimillion-dollar (euro) real estate scam. The 43-year-old former playboy was originally sentenced to 15 years in jail, which was reduced to 10 years on appeal.

"The law says he has the right to have his sentence reduced for good behavior," said Soetomo Rahardjo, a prison service official.

Indonesian authorities traditionally cut prison terms on national holidays, usually by several weeks or months, for the country's 105,000 inmates who exhibit good behavior. Only those sentenced to death or life in prison are excluded.

Tommy Suharto is scheduled to be freed in 2012, but Justice Ministry officials have suggested he could be released on probation in 2007. The younger Suharto, whose lavish lifestyle during the 1980s and early '90s made him a symbol of the excesses of his father's 32-year rule, is serving his sentence on the prison island of Nusakambangan, 400 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Jakarta.

His father was forced to step down in May 1998 amid student-led protests against his dictatorship, reports the AP. I.L.

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