Jakarta. The Indonesian government plans to execute another batch of death row convicts next year, the Attorney General's Office said on Friday.
Amir Yanto, who heads the AGO's information center, said his office on Thursday submitted to the House of Representatives its budget for 2016, including an item of Rp 307.6 billion ($21.5 million) for "case handling and settlement," which includes funds needed to carry out 14 death penalties.
"The budget can be approved or reduced [by the House]," Amir said, as quoted by news portal CNNIndonesia.com, suggesting the number of people in the group to be executed next might still change.
The AGO has submitted a total budget of Rp 4.7 trillion, much lower than this year's Rp 5.06 trillion, according to Amir.
In April, AGO spokesman Tony Spontana said his office was
already preparing for another round of executions, but Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo
revealed last week it was "still evaluating and observing the situation."
Tony said the next round of executions will not feature drug convicts. The office has identified five convicted murderers who will be in the next batch to face the firing squad.
Tony said all five men had exhausted their avenues of appeal.
It was not immediately clear who else would be in line for execution next year.
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran; Rodrigo Gularte, a Brazilian diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia; Raheem Agbaje Salami, Martin Anderson, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Okwudili Oyatanze of Nigeria; and Indonesian national Zainal Abidin were executed in April for drug offenses. President Joko Widodo refused to budge to international pressure at the time, stressing that Indonesia was facing a drug emergency.
More executions likely early next year
A third phase of executions of narcotics convicts is expected to be held in early 2016, according to the House of Representatives.
“Currently we are processing the budget. Since there’re only a few months left in 2015, we’re probably going to carry out [the third phase of executions] at the beginning of next year,” Arsul Sani, a member of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and the National Police, said on Saturday.
According to Asrul, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has not yet submitted a definitive schedule for the next round of executions; if it has enough money left from this year’s budget, the AGO may carry out the executions sooner.
Previously, the AGO requested House approval of a budget to execute 12 death row convicts during a meeting with Commission III.
“There are actually more than 120 people on death row. During the meeting, we asked the AGO why it had only requested funds [to execute] 12 people,” Arsul said as quoted by kompas.com.
According to AGO data, there were, as of early 2015, 64 narcotics-related death row prisoners. Six were executed in the first phase on Jan. 18, followed to their graves by a further eight in the second phase on April 29.
Source:
Jakarta Post, September 19, 2015
