Prosecutors said Rabihil Kana had bought a still-bloody pelt, which included the head, from an unidentified man for 2.5 million rupiahdollars) in October 2003.

Kana, 44, is a member of the Golkar party of the Bengkulu provincial legislature on Sumatra island. The sentence demand was made at a court in Bengkulu city, Antara news agency said late Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Kana preserved the pelt in methylated spirits and took it to a hotel in Bengkulu in December 2002 to offer it for sale to another man, who agreed to pay some five million rupiah.

But police raided the hotel room following a tip-off.

It was not clear when a verdict would be delivered.

The Sumatran tiger is critically endangered, with about 400 to 500 believed to be still surviving in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The main threats it faces are habitat loss and poaching.

TERRA.WIRE