GUILTY Bali - Bali Nine, Australians arrested for heroin trafficking, 2005

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Lawyers for two Australian drug smugglers who are attempting to avoid execution in Indonesia may have to seek an adjournment at their trial in Jakarta today.

Leonard Arpan, one of the lawyers representing Chan and Sukumaran told ABC News last night the legal team did not know what evidence they would present in court today, and had not been able to contact their expert witness.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/bali-nine-lawyers-not-ready-for-court-date/6345796
 
Failed death row appeal good news: Jakarta

THE failure of a death row Filipina to win a judicial review of her controversial case is "good news", says an Indonesian official organising her execution and those of two Australians.
BALI Nine members Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan await their fate on Nusakambangan island while Jakarta observes the final legal appeals of some of the 10 drug offenders it wishes to put to death at the same time.
To hasten the process, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo has ordered the Supreme Court to fast-track the cases of those who have applied for last-minute judicial reviews.

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaki...eath-row-appeals/story-e6frfkui-1227280521515
 
they'll get you said:
Failed death row appeal good news: Jakarta

THE failure of a death row Filipina to win a judicial review of her controversial case is "good news", says an Indonesian official organising her execution and those of two Australians.
BALI Nine members Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan await their fate on Nusakambangan island while Jakarta observes the final legal appeals of some of the 10 drug offenders it wishes to put to death at the same time.
To hasten the process, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo has ordered the Supreme Court to fast-track the cases of those who have applied for last-minute judicial reviews.

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaki...eath-row-appeals/story-e6frfkui-1227280521515
Click to expand...
Where's the good news Indonesia?
 
The Philippines is not going to give up on Mary Jane Veloso. They plan to continue further appeals, if possible, and are pressuring Joko to commute her sentence to life in prison.

I guess Joko does not mind at all the diplomatic storm his firing-squad-for-smugglers mentality is causing with multiple nations around the world - while terrorists and murderers walk free from his jails.


The Philippines will “exhaust all possible legal means” to save a 30-year-old Filipina who is on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking, officials said on Friday.

A second appeal to reconsider the death sentence of Mary Jane Veloso was being considered after Indonesia’s Supreme Court rejected her request for judicial review, according to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose.

“I am once again appealing to President Widodo’s good heart for the commutation of the death sentence of our kababayan [compatriot], Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, who is scheduled to be executed in Yogyakarta,” he said.

http://www.manilatimes.net/dfa-not-giving-up-to-save-doomed-pinay/172390/
 
Andrew and Myuran’s lawyers were back in court today. They presented their expert witness, who testified that they were legally and constitutionally allowed to challenge the president’s denial of clemency. Both sides need to present their concluding arguments on Wednesday, then the court will decide if they will let a challenge be heard.


Lawyers fighting to challenge the Indonesian president's rejection of mercy pleas for Bali nine organisers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have argued the case can be heard by the administrative court.

Expert witness Otong Rosadi, a law lecturer at Ekasakti University, told the state administrative court of Jakarta it did have jurisdiction to hear the Bali nine pair's appeal.
Mr Otong said according to the constitution there was no public policy that could not be challenged in court or parliament. He said that after an amendment to the constitution the president's prerogative rights were no longer absolute.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/chan-su...to-judges--and-metallica-20150330-1mb6mp.html
 
Jewel Topsfield (@JewelTopsfield) tweeted - 6 Apr 15:

The story on the #Bali9 decision is up. Both men lost their appeals m.smh.com.au/world/bali-nin… (https://twitter.com/JewelTopsfield/status/584976954828333056?s=17)

Here's the story. This really was a last-ditch appeal and they'll very likely face a firing squad now. Part of the reason the appeal was rejected was because an expert witness didn't appear in person, I think?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-ni...-andrew-chan-lose-appeal-20150406-1mfdfp.html
 
:(

From your article, Zwiebel:

Lawyers for the Australians had hoped to challenge in the Administrative Court President Joko Widodo's refusal to grant 64 drug felons mercy on the grounds Indonesia is facing a drug emergency.

They said he should have examined Chan and Sukumaran's clemency pleas on an individual basis and taken into account their rehabilitation.

However Chief Justice Ujang Abdullah upheld an earlier decision on February 24 that the court did not have jurisdiction over presidential clemency.

[...]

"We will have to find our way and ground to launch another legal action."

The legal team has not ruled out launching legal action in the Constitutional Court but any decision would not be retrospective and therefore it could not save the lives of the Bali nine pair.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much it. They have lost all hope. Now I will dread seeing their thread bumped for what it will say...
 
I think basically the boys’ lawyers took the matter to the administrative court, because a legal expert at an Indonesian University told them it was up to the administrative court to decide if the president had used his clemency powers fairly and accurately.

The administrative court says it is not up to them to decide that, it is a constitutional matter.

So now they are off to the constitutional court for the same matter … to say that the president did not consider the clemency requests individually and fairly, taking rehabilitation into consideration.

Goodness knows what happens if the constitutional court says that is not their jurisdiction. Surely the president is legally answerable to someone.


Today three judges from Indonesia's state administrative court said clemency fell under the constitution but not under administrative law, and so was not in their jurisdiction.

The court said it could only hear matters to do with regulations created by parliament or government.

Michael O'Connell, part of Chan and Sukamaran's legal team, said in the next few days the pair's Indonesian lawyers would lodge an application in Indonesia's constitutional court.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...li-nine-pair-appeal-against-execution/6373032
 
The Aussie government is not giving up, however ... no matter what the Indonesian courts say.


In a statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian Government was disappointed with the decision.

"Both men have undergone extensive rehabilitation and I will continue to make representations to my counterpart, just as Australia will continue to use all diplomatic options to seek a stay of execution," she said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Opposition spokeswoman for foreign affairs Tanya Plibersek said all legal processes should be allowed to run their course.

"While there's life, there's hope," they said in a joint statement.

"We will not give up. We continue to offer every support to the Australian Government in relation to this matter."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...li-nine-pair-appeal-against-execution/6373032
 
"These boys," are these defendants minors? That might change my mind, but we want other countries to respect our legal system, so should we not respect theirs? I consider it universally known that countries in that area of the world use the death penalty much more frequently for drug charges than Westernized countries.
 
wendybtn said:
"These boys," are these defendants minors? That might change my mind, but we want other countries to respect our legal system, so should we not respect theirs? I consider it universally known that countries in that area of the world use the death penalty much more frequently for drug charges than Westernized countries.
Click to expand...

Are you aware of this little hypocrisy?

The Indonesian government is spending millions of dollars on lawyers and to victims' families to get its citizens off death row in foreign countries despite ramping up its own rate of execution.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/worl...ig-to-save-citizens.html#sthash.7rdR6XKp.dpuf


And this one?

Their rehabilitation and reform in prison counted for nothing, despite the Constitutional Court having previously said it should be grounds for clemency.
http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=14597


There are many more hypocricies, too. There are many levels of deeply ingrained bribery in the Indonesian 'justice' system that make it a very unequal and unfair system. There is no comparison to the justice systems that we are accustomed to, in any way.

There is a massive backstory here that many Westerners are not aware of. But following the Sheila von Wiese Mack case, and reading Snowing in Bali and many other publications, sure has opened my eyes - in a big way.

These boys are worth going to bat for. They were boys when it happened. 10 long and very productive years have passed since then.
 
wendybtn said:
"These boys," are these defendants minors? That might change my mind, but we want other countries to respect our legal system, so should we not respect theirs? I consider it universally known that countries in that area of the world use the death penalty much more frequently for drug charges than Westernized countries.
Click to expand...

Most Australians, and both sides of government, don't respect the death penalty. I don't think we should respect practices that we consider cruel and extreme punishment just because it's justified as a 'legal system'.
 
"If I can make one point about this — in 2007, the Indonesian constitutional court declared that if a person on death row could demonstrate over a period of 10 years that they had engaged in praise-worthy conduct, as they call it, then they should be entitled to have their sentences commuted to either life or 20 years."

He said the constitutional court appeal could take several months.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-07/bali-nine-pair-just-buying-time-indonesian-ag-says/6373894
 
Bali nine executions: Constitutional Court has no power to alter death sentences

But Attorney-General H. M. Prasetyo has accused the men's legal team of "playing with justice" and vowed the Constitutional Court case would not delay the executions.

"If possible it should be done soon so everybody knows we're serious," Mr Prasetyo was quoted as saying by news wire detik.com.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-ni...to-alter-death-sentences-20150407-1mg4tz.html
 
A very powerful and compassionate opinion piece by The Hon. Dr Ken Crispin, Q.C., former Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian Capital Territory, Supreme Court judge and President of the ACT Court of Appeal.


"While our countries are quite different in some respects, there is much that we have in common, including democratic governments and declared commitments to human rights. Both countries have a strong concern for the welfare of their citizens and strenuously campaign for leniency whenever the death penalty is imposed upon them by other nations.

The pleas for the lives of these two young men, now building to a crescendo in Australia, should be seen in this context. Australians are neither challenging Indonesian sovereignty nor making demands; we are merely asking a valued and powerful friend not to kill two of our citizens.

The impending execution of these young men has evoked strong emotions within Australia. There has been a groundswell of sympathy as evidence has emerged of the extent of their rehabilitation and the compassion they have shown over the last few years in attempting to help other prisoners."

http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/04/07/4211646.htm
 
I am against the death penalty although I do believe, perhaps some will think hypocritically, that some people deserve to die. And I also do not lose sleep when some like Scott Peterson or Timothy McVeigh get sentenced to death. But I do think in general it is a barbaric practice that evolved, civilized governments should not engage in.

But if the Bali 9 had murdered someone, I would not feel the horror I feel. This is drugs, not murder. And if you bribe the right people, you can get off for the very same crimes these guys are to be executed for. How is that justice? Worse, you can visciously and brutally massacre someone in Indonesia and they don't seem to care. THAT is not a big deal. But bringing drugs out of the country? Somehow that is a demonic evil in Indonesia. What hypocrisy.

Finally, I am not familiar with Australian politics but it seems the government ca and should do more to stop these barbaric executions than encourage it's citizens to boycott Bali. Embargo anyone? The main kingpins in the Bali 9 operation seem, IIRC,to have escaped any justice while these guys, who come from normal families and seems to be genuinely nice, gentle people who have totally reformed and ca contribute something to the world, are going to die. For drugs.

I will never go to Indonesia or any country like it. Total banana republic. Sick.
 
wendybtn said:
"These boys," are these defendants minors? That might change my mind, but we want other countries to respect our legal system, so should we not respect theirs? I consider it universally known that countries in that area of the world use the death penalty much more frequently for drug charges than Westernized countries.
Click to expand...

wendybtn, normally I would wholeheartedly agree with you, trust me. I thought the same as you when I first heard of their case. I'm even pro death penalty for the worst of the worst. But there is just so much more to their story than what you see on the surface. After I read the articles linked in this thread and read up on the history of the Indonesian legal system my mind completely changed. Check out the very active thread here on WS about the Bali murder of Sheila Von Wiese Mack, committed by her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend. They were visiting Bali on vacation.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...ound-in-suitcase-Daughter-boyfriend-charged-5

It is impossible for me to respect a legal system in another country that looks the other way at blatant corruption and arbitrary death sentences doled out by a very crooked justice system. Everyone from judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys are on the take. Should they both be punished? Of course, hell yeah. Not saying they shouldn't. But not executed.

I'm glad their plight came to light, because now I know to never visit Indonesia.

Please read this article about one the judges on the panel who rejected their appeals:

Achmad Yamanie, an Indonesian Supreme Court judge, was a member of the judges panel that in 2011 rejected appeals by Chan and Sukumaran and reconfirmed their death sentences. But just a month later, the panel ruled in another case, against one of Indonesia's worst drug criminals, that the death penalty ran contrary to the defendant's constitutional right to life. They commuted it to 15 years' imprisonment.

Mr Yamanie was dishonourably discharged from the court after he then falsified the court documents in the case to reduce the sentence even further from 15 years to 12 years.
Click to expand...

http://www.smh.com.au/world/two-bal...-corruption-manipulation-20150212-13btyd.html
 
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