Schapelle Corby ‘lucky not sentenced to death’: Indonesian anti-drug group
AN INDO anti-drugs group is angry at Schapelle Corby’s release and wants her to warn Aussies that she could have had a death sentence.
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AN INDONESIAN anti-narcotics group has called on Schapelle Corby to turn activist for them and warn everyone in Australia against bringing drugs to Indonesia, broadcasting how lucky she is not to have been sentenced to life or death.
And they say she should be banned from coming back to their country for the next 10 years. They also questioned how Schapelle Corby, who had never admitted her guilt, had been granted clemency by Indonesia’s former President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Nyoman Adi Peri, Chairman of the National Anti-Narcotics Movement, known as GANNAS, said many others, arrested with less drugs, received higher sentences than Corby.
“When Corby is released and deported to Australia, she should tell everyone in her country that she is a lucky person. And she should tell all people there to not try to bring narcotics into Indonesia,” Mr Peri told News Corp Australia.
“As anti-narcotics activists, we want to say to Corby, you are a lucky person because the court did not sentence you to life or death. Corby was lucky to get that (original 20-year sentence). So, Corby should tell that to the people in Australia,” he said.
‘EXTREMELY LIGHT SENTENCE’
Mr Peri said in his opinion Corby should have received a harsher sentence in the first place.
Her 20-year term was reduced on appeal to 15 years and then reinstated back to 20 years on a further prosecution appeal. Finally, in 2012, Corby won a clemency bid to the country’s President, who cut her sentence to 15 years.
The clemency plea was on humanitarian grounds highlighting the mental illness she developed in prison and she did not admit guilt, which is normally needed to win a clemency plea.
“Corby should not only get 20 years for bringing 4kg of drugs. That’s a large amount. In my opinion, she should have got the death sentence. Twenty years is an extremely light sentence for her,” Mr Peri said.
“You can imagine now, based on our narcotic law no 35/2009, someone could be sentence(d) minimum 4 years for only one joint of marijuana. And this is 4kg,” he said.
‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’
Mr Peri said Indonesian society believed Corby’s clemency success was “an injustice”.
“There was special treatment for foreigners that have already brought 4kg of drugs into the country. For society, there should be no compromise.
However, the Indonesian constitution indeed has given authority to the President to grant clemency to any convict, including those in narcotic case.
“We heard from media that one of the considerations was related with the fate of Indonesian people arrested in Australia at that time (on people smuggling offences). Moreover, many Indonesians arrested in Australia were underage (children). Therefore, the clemency is part of the international diplomacy to make it easier for Indonesians arrested in Australia to get commutation.”
HARD LINE
Mr Peri said the country’s current President, Joko Widodo had conveyed his commitment not to give any clemency for those convicted in drug cases.
Mr Widodo has taken a hard line against drug traffickers since he took office and in 2015 pushed ahead with the execution of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and many others despite international pressure.
Mr Peri said Corby should be black-listed from returning to Indonesia for 10 years when she is deported home next weekend.
Corby can be banned for life, a proposal which Ngurah Rai Immigration chief Ari Sudijanto says he is considering.
“I think she could get a short period of blacklist as long as she campaigns to people. For example, when she is released and arrives in Australia, she says thank you to the Indonesian government, prosecutor, and judge. And then she says that she wants to help Indonesian government to campaign the danger of drugs,” Mr Peri said
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