Indonesia offers ’practical arrangement’ for Bali Nine transfer
Indonesia’s senior law minister reveals his government has already submitted a draft legal document for the Australian government to review.
“The ball is in Australia’s court” over the transfer of the remaining Bali Nine prisoners, the country’s senior law minister said on Tuesday after revealing his government had already submitted a draft legal document for the Australian government to review.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s Co-ordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections, met Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Jakarta on Tuesday and told a joint press conference after the meeting that his government had already passed the draft to the Australian embassy and to Mr Burke outlining the terms of a transfer.
“We hope for a prompt response from the Australian government so we can reach an agreement soon and implement the prisoner transfer process,” Mr Mahendra said.
“We aim to finalise discussions on the draft as soon as possible with the hope of completing this matter by December. However, the outcome depends on procedural requirements.
“At this point the ball is in their court and we are waiting for a response,” he added at a separate doorstop.
Asked if he could guarantee the five remaining Bali Nine men would definitely be returning to Australia, he said: “This is not something for our government to address.
“It is the Australian government that must communicate with their citizens on this matter.”
While no formal international prisoner transfer treaty exists between the two countries, the Indonesian government has said it is committed to returning the five men to Australia.
In return, the Australian government must agree to formally recognise Indonesia’s court ruling, cover the transfer costs, agree to transfer the men to Australian prisons, and agree that the deal be reciprocal.
It would be up to the Australian government to grant the men, who faced possible lifetime bans from Indonesia, clemency or early release.
Mr Burke described the Indonesian draft document on the transfer as a “significant step forward” and one that demonstrated the Indonesian government’s goodwill.
“There are, as the minister said, some issues that have not yet been resolved and that work will continue between our officials,” Mr Burke said.
“We now need to work through the issues within each country and we will be doing that without delay.”
Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Martin Stephens, Michael Czugaj and Scott Rush were all sentenced to life imprisonment and have each now served more than 19 years in prisons across Bali and Java for attempting to traffic 8.3kg of heroin from Bali into Australia in 2005.
Alleged ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by the Indonesian state in 2015.
Renae Lawrence, the only female of the group, was released to Australian authorities in November 2018.
The ninth young Australian to be convicted over the smuggling, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer earlier that year.
‘I’m challenging you’: Brad Battin’s Boxing Day phone call to Pesutto
In a major development, the shadow police minister has told the Opposition leader he will challenge him for the leadership at Friday’s high-stakes meeting of Victorian Liberal MPs.
Prodigious Boxing Day aid cemented key partnership
John Howard knew he had to act quickly to help Indonesia after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami unleashed destruction and terror on Australia’s most important neighbour.