Bali pair meet justice officials, no talk of date

INDONESIAN justice officials have talked to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran without finalising their executions transfer.

Condemned Australian pair Myuran Sukumaran, right, and Andrew Chan.

INDONESIAN justice officials have met at Kerobokan jail and talked to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran without finalising their transfer to the Nusakambangan prison complex, where their executions are to be carried out.

The Australians “maybe” could be moved next week, said Gusti Kompiang Adnyana, the head of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry’s Bali office, although most other indications are that their transfer will be delayed by at least a fortnight.

The Bali Nine pair’s last legal opportunity to delay the executions will be in the Jakarta Administrative Court on Tuesday when their lawyers argue that Indonesian President Joko Widodo did not give genuine and proper consideration to their appeals for clemency.

The planned transfer of Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31, was postponed this week because preparations at the Nusakambangan’s Batu “super-maximum” unit and the execution ground were found to be inadequate.

However, Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo insisted again yesterday that the executions would proceed “as soon as possible”.

“There’s basically nothing whatsoever that will hamper the implementation of this decision,” he said.

Mr Prasetyo denied a news website report that Vice-President Jusuf Kalla had told Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday night that the executions would be delayed by three weeks to a month, saying: “I have never said that and I don’t think the Vice-President would have said that.” 

It is understood that a conversation did take place but the issue of timing was not raised.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also denied that the delay had anything to do with Australian pressure, saying Indonesia “never played with the deadline” for the executions of Chan and Sukumaran, along with six or eight other drug convicts.

Ms Retno also endorsed her officials’ characterisation of Tony Abbott’s Thursday statement linking Australia’s post-tsunami assistance with the pending executions as a threat, though the Prime Minister later denied that was his meaning.

“We will not respond to an emotional statement, which was a threat in nature,” Indonesia’s Foreign Minister said yesterday.

Bali’s chief prosecutor Momock Bambang Samiarso and Mr Adnyana met with Kerobokan prison chief Sudjonggo yesterday and Mr Adnyana also spoke to the condemned men.

He said that the men’s transfer had not yet been co-ordinated with Nusakambangan authorities and, when asked about the timing of their transfer there, replied: “Maybe this month.”

Additional reporting: Peter Alford, AFP, AAP