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| Main gate to Nusakambangan Prison Island |
The last hope of Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has been trampled in administrative court. An Indonesian judge has rejected the appeal from the Australian duo’s lawyers on Tuesday.
Chan and Sukumaran’s legal team filed an appeal in the administrative court to challenge President Joko Widodo’s blanket ban on clemency that affected 64 death row inmates, including the two Bali Nine ringleaders. Their lawyers, led by top Indonesian lawyer Todong Mulya Lubis, argued that the president should have reviewed individual cases on their merits as each required. Mr Widodo allegedly failed to follow the due process by denying all appeals all at once.
However, Justice Hendro Puspito denied their application, saying the administrative court does not have the jurisdiction to try the case. How the president bestows clemency is not an administrative dispute heard in the same court.
“According to the judge, the president’s rejection of (the) clemency petition is not an administrative act so this court does not have the jurisdiction to accept our case,” Lubis
said. He added, though, that the fight isn’t over yet.
They have two weeks to file an appeal. “If the law is respected, the execution should be postponed until the legal process is over.”
Lubis said he had asked Attorney General HM Prasetyo to acknowledge that the legal process is on-going, and therefore Chan and Sukumaran’s execution must be at least delayed until it is completed.
The Bali Nine drug smugglers were scheduled to be transferred to Kerobokan prison to Nusakambangan Island last week but was delayed, allegedly due to technical reasons. Prasetyo insisted that despite the delay, the execution of Chan, Sukumaran and the nine other inmates will take place. There is no announced date for the transfer yet.
Meanwhile, Mr Widodo once again showed his resolve on his decision not to grant clemency to drug offenders. “The first thing I need to say firmly is that there shouldn’t be any intervention towards the death penalty because it is our sovereign right to exercise our law,” he
told reporters.
Bali Nine appeal fails
A last-ditch legal effort to save Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan from execution has failed, with a Jakarta court deciding it can't examine the challenge.
Judge Hendro Puspito said the administrative court was not authorised to hear the challenge.
Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran admitted there was only a slim chance the case in the administrative court would proceed.
They argued President Joko Widodo did not follow due process when he denied the Bali Nine pair clemency because they were death row drug offenders, without considering their circumstances.
But they had to clear jurisdictional hurdles that tripped up the only other case of its kind.
That case was brought by an anti-drugs group against the decision to grant clemency to another Australian drug smuggler, Schapelle Corby.
It also failed when the presidential decree was deemed outside the realm of the administrative court, and Corby is now free on parole.
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The Indonesian Navy patrols the strait between the
mainland and Nusakambangan prison island, where Chan
and Sukumaran are expected to be transferred to die by
firing squad. (Photo: news.com.au) |
Authorities say it's 'very likely' the Bali Nine duo will this week be relocated to the island where Indonesia plans to execute them.
Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said he would appeal the court's decision.
Chan and Sukumaran were to be transferred from their Bali jail cells to Nusakambangan penal island last week, but it was found to have inadequate isolation cells.
Indonesian Attorney General HM Prasetyo on Monday said preparations were now "about 80 per cent" complete.
Construction materials have been arriving on the island and a jail official has said there are orders to accelerate the works for completion within days.
The Indonesian military has also made plans to secure the transfer of the men from Bali to central Java.
There was an increased navy presence around Nusakambangan on Tuesday, while a squadron of Sukhoi jets, which may be called on to escort the Australians' flight to the island, was flying overhead in Bali as the court in Jakarta handed down its decision.
Source:
SkyNews, February 24, 2015
Bali Nine duo’s lawyers refuse to give up despite latest appeal rejection by court
LAWYERS for two Australians on death row in Bali say the fight is not over, despite a court throwing out claims the Indonesian president acted unlawfully when denying their clemency.
In a major blow to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan’s last-ditch challenge, Judge Hendro Puspito yesterday said the administrative court was not authorised to hear the case.
Australian lawyer Julian McMahon, who is due to visit the Bali Nine duo this morning, said they would not be giving up.
“I will be telling them that we will certainly fight for them and hope that the processes pursuant to the rule of law will continue and that nothing such as being dragged away and shot will happen to them in the meantime,” Mr McMahon said.
As talk of another appeal emerged, authorities on the prison island of Nusakambangan said they had formal orders to conduct the executions of Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33.
Although seven foreigners and four Indonesians are expected to be shot by firing squad in coming days, Yusparudin, divisional head of central Java prisons, said he had only received authorisation for the killing of Chan and Sukumaran.
“I don’t have confirmation letters for all the 11, but yes, we already have letter of confirmation for the two from Bali Nine, absolutely, yes,” he said.
Click here to read the full article
Source: news.com.au, February 24, 2015
Indonesia says no postponement on planned executions
JAKARTA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday that there will be no postponement on the executions of 11 convicts on death row, most of them on drug charges.
The Indonesian president, meanwhile, also warned foreign countries not to intervene in his country's law enforcement.
President Widodo noted that he had refused to give mercy to 64 convicts, including the 11 persons, as drug trafficking has posed a threat to the country
Mercy pleas have been repeatedly appealed by Australia, Brazil and France, whose citizens are among those to face the capital punishment. "The first thing that I need to say firmly is that there shouldn't be any intervention in the death penalty because it is our sovereignty on law, our sovereignty on politics," the president said at the State Palace.
Separately, a court in Jakarta on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the two Australian citizens, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran who are among the 11 convicts, against the president's rejection of their request for clemency.
Indonesian Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said that the executions of the 11 convicts are ready and preparations have been made. Indonesia has applied harsh punishment for drug trafficking.
Source: Xinhua, February 24, 2015
