DENPASAR, Indonesia : Two Australians were sentenced to death by
an Indonesian court on Tuesday for leading a drug ring exporting
heroin to Australia through the resort island of Bali.
Two others got life in prison on the second day of sentencing in
the case of the so-called Bali Nine, which has irked many in
Australia. Two defendants were given life terms on Monday.
Andrew Chan, 21, and Myuran Sukumaran, 24, were both found guilty
and given the death penalty in line with the recommendations of
prosecutors.
Chan nodded repeatedly when informed by the court translator but
made no comment, while Sukumaran remained attentive and calm as he
stood up to hear the verdict read.
"We will advise our client to make an appeal," Chan's lawyer
Muhammad Rifan told journalists. Rifan, who is also defending
Sukumaran, said that he will advise an appeal for his case as
well.
Judges reading the verdict in turn said that Sukumaran had been
proven "to have ordered or organized the export of first class
narcotics from Bali."
"The defendant also funded and arranged the transport and
accommodations for his friends," they said.
"According to the teachings of various religions, the death penalty
can be justified," said judge Arief Supratman, who explained how
the court had prepared itself to give Chan the ultimate
penalty.
"We prepared ourselves mentally. The entire panel of judges prayed
according to their respective beliefs. We meditated until we were
really convinced that this is the verdict to be made," he
said.
He said that the judges would justify the verdict "to God Almighty,
to the nation and the state, and to the public in general."
The sentence could become an irritant to relations between
Indonesia and Australia, which abolished the death penalty more
than 20 years ago. All nine defendants are Australian.
Many in Australia were angered after it emerged that they were
arrested in Indonesia, where capital punishment is legal, after a
tip-off from Australian authorities.
Before Chan's sentence was handed down, Australian Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer reaffirmed his government's position.
"We will always make representations on behalf of Australian
citizens who are given the death penalty, we will always seek
clemency on their behalf," he told the Australian parliament.
In the first verdicts Monday, Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush were
each given life sentences. Prosecutors had only asked for a 20-year
term for Lawrence, 28, the only woman on trial.
In separate trials Tuesday, judges also handed life sentences to
Michael Czugaj, 20, and Martin Eric Stephens, 28. The verdicts were
as the prosecutors had recommended.
Czugaj, Stephens, Lawrence and Rush were the four alleged carriers
arrested at Bali airport while awaiting a flight to Australia. The
four were caught with packages of heroin allegedly strapped to
their bodies.
While Czugaj appeared calm and did not show any particular emotion
when he was told of the sentence by his translator, his mother and
a sister who were watching the trial broke into tears.
Stephens was also calm, cooling himself with a pink fan when the
verdict was read out.
Czugaj's lawyer Frans Passar told AFP that before the hearing
began, he and his client had already discussed the possibility of
the life sentence.
"He said he was prepared but that he felt he was innocent. He said
he was only a victim," Passar said. The lawyer demanded time to
consider whether to appeal. The court gave him one week.
All four couriers said during the trial that Chan had threatened to
kill their families if they did not comply and strap the drug to
their bodies before flying home.
The verdicts on three other defendants are to be announced
Wednesday.
The gang of eight men and one woman allegedly tried to smuggle a
total of 11.2 kilograms of heroin to Australia.
Ban Indoneasians for sentencing their heroes to death??? Just like
what they did to Singaporeans???
