JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto pardoned two political rivals, a former trade minister and a senior politician from an opposition party a few weeks after both were sentenced to jail, officials said.
Prabowo granted amnesty to Hasto Kristiyanto, the secretary general of parliament’s largest party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said late on Thursday in a news conference broadcast by local media, after meeting the House’s deputy speaker.
Hasto was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison last week for bribing an election official but the amnesty revokes his sentence though his conviction will still stand.
The president also granted an abolition for Thomas Trikasih Lembong, a trade minister under President Joko Widodo who was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison for improperly granting sugar import permits, Supratman said in the news conference.
The abolition means, Lembong, who was the campaign manager of Prabowo’s rival candidate in last year’s presidential election, is acquitted of the charges and his sentence.
