The Indonesian government said Monday its court would be transparent and fair in deciding the fate of three of nine Australian drug traffickers, known as the Bali Nine, who are appealing their death sentence with the Supreme Court.
“We are very serious about handling this case as drug smuggling is a serious issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.
He said that the international community was closely monitoring the case and the court’s rulings would be as fair as possible.
“If the Bali Nine can provide new evidence, we will consider it,” he said.
The Bali Nine is the name that has been given to a group of nine people arrested on 17 April, 2005, in Denpasar, Bali, regarding a plan to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
After first trials at the District Court and subsequent appeals at the High Court and the Supreme Court, ring leaders Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and the youngest member, Scott Rush, have been handed the death penalty.
The remaining six were given 20 years to life sentences in jail.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday that member Renae Lawrence was preparing to testify to prevent the execution of Scott Rush.
Her testimony at Rush’s final appeal where she said she made multiple courier runs to Bali, may reportedly help lawyers argue that Rush’s death sentence is unjust because lesser sentences have been given to other members of the group.
Although Lawrence had made two drug runs to Bali before her arrest, she received a 20-year sentence, the least severe punishment of the nine.
Rush, then 19, was making his first overseas trip when 3.4 kilograms of heroin was found strapped to his body at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar.
He allegedly had no knowledge of the power of the syndicate that recruited him and, after initial denials, confessed his guilt and pleaded for mercy.
Lawrence told Indonesian police after her arrest that she went to Bali in October, 2004, with Chan. She said Sukumaran had strapped them with heroin, which they took to Australia. She also told of an aborted trip to Bali in December, 2004.
But during her trial, Lawrence withdrew her statements. The Herald has learnt she has given a new statement to Rush’s lawyers and is prepared to testify at his appeal.
Rush was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was increased to death on appeal in 2006, although prosecutors did not recommend the death sentence to him.
Under Indonesian law there is no automatic requirement for findings in different courts to be consistent, or for the ruling of a superior court be followed by a lower court.
But Rush’s lawyers can point to inconsistent sentencing in a motion for reconsideration. Lawyers are expected to ask the appeal judges to examine each Bali Nine case and argue for the sentences to be uniform so Rush’s sentence is not executed.
In 2008, Bagir Manan, the retiring Indonesian Supreme Court chief, was quoted as saying he expected the apparent injustice of Rush’s sentence to be considered at the final appeal.
Many local and international observers, however, have expressed doubts about the Indonesian court’s ability to arrive at a fair verdict, pointing to incapable and corrupt justices, who are notorious for producing frequent controversial and confusing rulings.
If final appeals by Rush, Chan and Sukumaran fail, their last option is to seek clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has shown little mercy to those convicted of narcotics crimes.
After controversy over the National Police’s role in Rush’s arrest, the Federal Government last month issued new guidelines that when cooperating with other countries, senior police officers must consider a suspect’s age, nationality and whether capital punishment is necessary.
Speculations have emerged that the Australian government had frequently launched diplomatic efforts with Yudhoyono’s administration to save the Bali Nine members from prosecution.
However, Faizasyah denied these efforts took place, saying that the case had been under the authority of the country’s legal system.
He also said that there was nothing the government could do.
Source: jakartapost.com, January 12, 2010
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