Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 13:20:55 GMT -5
Shock and confusion greeted the decision of an Indonesian appeals court to sentence four more members of the Bali Nine to death, even though prosecutors were only seeking life sentences.
In a surprise decision, Indonesia's Supreme Court said Scott Rush, 20, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and the youngest of the group, 19-year-old Matthew Norman, should face the firing squad.
They will now join Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 25 on death row for their role in trying to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin to Australia last April.
The Supreme Court, Indonesia's highest judicial authority, also confirmed the death sentences for Chan and Sukumaran.
However it spared two more group members from death, ruling that drug mules Michael Czugaj, 21, and Martin Stephens, 30, should serve life sentences.
The final member of the Nine, Renae Lawrence, 28, is serving 20 years in jail after her life term was cut.
Rush had gone to the Supreme Court to appeal his life sentence, while Indonesian prosecutors had lodged appeals seeking to overturn the High Court's decision to cut life terms for Nguyen, Chen and Norman to 20 years.
Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty for the four - but the Supreme Court imposed it anyway.
"This narcotics problem is a very heavy criminal act and is very dangerous for the people and the country, not only Indonesia, but also other countries," the chief judge in their Supreme Court case, Iskandar Kamil, told AAP.
Kamil said the appeal judges had taken issues such as age and expressions of remorse into consideration.
"We have calculated everything - things that make it lenient, things that make it heavier and that's the end result.
"Well, what can you do?
"Actually, we didn't have the heart to hand down the death penalty, but heavy crimes must be paid with similar punishment."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the judges had clearly taken a grave view of heroin trafficking.
"They thought that the Bali High Court and the Denpasar District Court had been too forgiving if you like with the admittedly harsh but nothing like as-harsh sentences.
"And so as a result they've decided on their initiative and without being urged to do so by the prosecution ... to apply the death penalty in these cases."
The six Australians facing death must now hope that a judicial review, or clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will spare their lives.
While Rush was caught with heroin on his body, Nguyen, Chen and Norman were arrested at a Bali hotel where 300g of heroin was found divided in small bags.
Rush's father Lee Rush said in Brisbane he was "dumbfounded" by the news, broken to him by a newspaper reporter.
"I think we are just stunned," Rush's mother Christine added.
Rush's Indonesian lawyer Robert Khuana also said he was shocked by the news.
It was not immediately clear if the Bali Nine members, who are in Bali's Kerobokan prison, had been told of the rulings.
News of the judgment emerged overnight in Fairfax newspapers and both the Australian government and the media took hours to confirm the report, while lawyers and family members were also left in the dark.
More than 12 hours after the news broke, Mr Downer still was not able to confirm the appeal court's rulings.
Australia opposes the death penalty and the judgments are likely to strain relations with Jakarta, which has taken a hard line with drug cases.
Mr Downer later said the government would support appeals to Yudhoyono.
"I have no idea whether those appeals will be successful or not. We haven't had a situation with Indonesia in the last 10 years where an Australian has been ... executed," he said.
Experts had feared that Stephens, whose original life sentence was upheld on appeal to the High Court, and Czugaj, whose life term had been cut to 20 years, could also face harsher punishments.
But the Supreme Court found no reason to change their original sentences.
"Praise the lord and thank you Jesus," said Czugaj's lawyer Fransiskus Passar, after being told the news.
The family priest of Rush and Czugaj, Father Tim Harris, urged prime Minister John Howard to appeal directly to Yudhoyono.
"I think the prime minister needs to get on the phone to the Indonesian prime minister and see if some clemency can be arranged," he told the ABC.
© 2006 AAP
In a surprise decision, Indonesia's Supreme Court said Scott Rush, 20, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and the youngest of the group, 19-year-old Matthew Norman, should face the firing squad.
They will now join Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 25 on death row for their role in trying to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin to Australia last April.
The Supreme Court, Indonesia's highest judicial authority, also confirmed the death sentences for Chan and Sukumaran.
However it spared two more group members from death, ruling that drug mules Michael Czugaj, 21, and Martin Stephens, 30, should serve life sentences.
The final member of the Nine, Renae Lawrence, 28, is serving 20 years in jail after her life term was cut.
Rush had gone to the Supreme Court to appeal his life sentence, while Indonesian prosecutors had lodged appeals seeking to overturn the High Court's decision to cut life terms for Nguyen, Chen and Norman to 20 years.
Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty for the four - but the Supreme Court imposed it anyway.
"This narcotics problem is a very heavy criminal act and is very dangerous for the people and the country, not only Indonesia, but also other countries," the chief judge in their Supreme Court case, Iskandar Kamil, told AAP.
Kamil said the appeal judges had taken issues such as age and expressions of remorse into consideration.
"We have calculated everything - things that make it lenient, things that make it heavier and that's the end result.
"Well, what can you do?
"Actually, we didn't have the heart to hand down the death penalty, but heavy crimes must be paid with similar punishment."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the judges had clearly taken a grave view of heroin trafficking.
"They thought that the Bali High Court and the Denpasar District Court had been too forgiving if you like with the admittedly harsh but nothing like as-harsh sentences.
"And so as a result they've decided on their initiative and without being urged to do so by the prosecution ... to apply the death penalty in these cases."
The six Australians facing death must now hope that a judicial review, or clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will spare their lives.
While Rush was caught with heroin on his body, Nguyen, Chen and Norman were arrested at a Bali hotel where 300g of heroin was found divided in small bags.
Rush's father Lee Rush said in Brisbane he was "dumbfounded" by the news, broken to him by a newspaper reporter.
"I think we are just stunned," Rush's mother Christine added.
Rush's Indonesian lawyer Robert Khuana also said he was shocked by the news.
It was not immediately clear if the Bali Nine members, who are in Bali's Kerobokan prison, had been told of the rulings.
News of the judgment emerged overnight in Fairfax newspapers and both the Australian government and the media took hours to confirm the report, while lawyers and family members were also left in the dark.
More than 12 hours after the news broke, Mr Downer still was not able to confirm the appeal court's rulings.
Australia opposes the death penalty and the judgments are likely to strain relations with Jakarta, which has taken a hard line with drug cases.
Mr Downer later said the government would support appeals to Yudhoyono.
"I have no idea whether those appeals will be successful or not. We haven't had a situation with Indonesia in the last 10 years where an Australian has been ... executed," he said.
Experts had feared that Stephens, whose original life sentence was upheld on appeal to the High Court, and Czugaj, whose life term had been cut to 20 years, could also face harsher punishments.
But the Supreme Court found no reason to change their original sentences.
"Praise the lord and thank you Jesus," said Czugaj's lawyer Fransiskus Passar, after being told the news.
The family priest of Rush and Czugaj, Father Tim Harris, urged prime Minister John Howard to appeal directly to Yudhoyono.
"I think the prime minister needs to get on the phone to the Indonesian prime minister and see if some clemency can be arranged," he told the ABC.
© 2006 AAP