Indonesian president Widodo commutes convicted killer's death sentence to life

President Joko Widodo

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has granted the clemency request filed by Dwi Trisna Firmansyah, 28, an inmate convicted of premeditated murder, and changed his sentence from death to life imprisonment.

Dwi’s lawyer, Asep Ruhiat, said he received a copy of the Presidential Decree (Keppres) No.18/G/2015 on the clemency from the Gobal Penitentiary, Pekanbaru, where the convict has been incarcerated for the last three years, on Friday. The Pekanbaru District Court (PN) confirmed the granting of clemency.

“President Jokowi, through the State Secretariat, decided the Presidential Decree in Jakarta on Feb.13,” Asep told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

“The Presidential Decree does not detail considerations on why President Jokowi granted the clemency request, except saying that the convict is eligible to receive clemency,” he went on.

Dwi is one of three death row convicts involved in the robbery and planned killings of Agusni Bahar, owner of the Niagara Ponsel store on Jl. Kaharuddin Nasution, Pekanbaru, and his son, Dodi Haryanto.

The two other convicts involved in the crime, Candra Purnama, a.k.a. Hendra, and Andi Paula, are also being held at the Gobah Penitentiary.

The three convicts brutally killed their victims when they were performing the Subuh prayer on April 16, 2012. They robbed their victims of one Daihatsu Terios car, two motorcycles, 12 mobile phones, dozens of cell phone vouchers, vehicle ownership documents (BPKB), vehicle registration certificates (STNK) and three bags containing a sum of money. The three criminals later fled to Palembang, South Sumatra before the police arrested them.

The PN Pekanbaru’s judicial panel led by Ida Bagus Dwiyantara sentenced the three suspects to death in a trial on Sept. 25, 2012. The judge’s sentence was harsher than that demanded by the prosecutors, who requested life imprisonment for all three suspects.

The judicial panel ruled that Asep was guilty of spying on the victims’ activities before he and the two other suspects perpetrated their crimes. The court also said Asep was proven guilty of participating in the murder of their two victims.

The judge sentenced him to death for violating the Criminal Code’s (KUHP) articles 340 and 55 on planned murder. Asep previously filed an appeal and for a case review – both were rejected by the Pekanbaru High Court and Supreme Court – before he requested clemency from the President.

Source: The Jakarta Post, March 15, 2015

March 16 UPDATE:

Indonesian president Joko Widodo spares the lives of 3 convicted murderers in Indonesia

The ABC has been told Indonesia's president has spared the lives of 3 murderers at the same time he was rejecting bids for clemency by drug traffickers.

Over the past 2 months, Joko Widodo had refused to grant clemency to a number of drug smugglers, including Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

However, during that time he commuted the death penalty for 3 men convicted of premeditated murder.

On February 13 he granted clemency for a 28-year-old who helped rob and kill 2 people in Sumatra.

A senior figure in the presidential palace said 2 other murderers had also had their executions reduced to life imprisonment by president Widodo.

Chan and Sukumaran are among 10 death-row prisoners awaiting news of the timing of their executions.

Several of them have ongoing legal appeals before Indonesia's courts and although the attorney-general says everything is almost ready for the executions to proceed, that will not happen until many of the legal processes are settled.

A date has not yet been set for the executions and the attorney-general must give 72 hours' notice.

Source: Yahoo News, March 16, 2015

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