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JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said that the corruption trial of former dictator Suharto must proceed. "In my opinion the court must continue the trial even if Suharto is not present to hear submissions of prosecutors and lawyers," the state Antara news agency quoted Wahid as saying after Friday prayers at his home in south Jakarta. Wahid said that if Suharto is found guilty the panel of judges must hand down a sentence. He repeated his pledge to pardon Suharto but only after he returned any ill-gotten wealth he had allegedly amassed during 32 years in power. "That's the most important thing and it cannot be compromised," Wahid said. Suharto, now 79, failed to show up in court at the opening session of his trial on Thursday, pleading ill health. The panel of judges adjourned the session until September 14. The ageing strongman faces charges of stealing $571 million from the state by funneling money from tax-free charity foundations he ran during his 32-year rule into the businesses of family and friends. Wahid attributed Suharto's no-show at the court on Thursday as simply due to ill health. "Actually Suharto is submissive to his fate. He is completely repentant," he said. Under Indonesian law, a defendant has to be present at the opening session of his trial to hear the reading out of charges against them. Lawyers can represent defendants in later sessions. Several critics of the postponement on Thursday suggested that the judges could go to Suharto's house to read the charges, or through teleconferencing. Meanwhile, some 200 orphans from Bogor, a city just south of the Indonesian capital, rallied near Suharto's sprawling house here to pray for his health and demand a halt to the trial, the Detikcom online news service said. The group, from the Al Muchlisin Muslim orphanage, traveled to Suharto's house in 10 buses, Detikcom said. "The [Suharto] trial will divide the nation," read one of their banners. Reformist students who vociferously protested the postponement of the trial on Thursday were absent from the streets of the capital as of late afternoon on Friday. |
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