Jakarta: Indonesia's Constitutional Court has no power to alter the death sentences of Bali nine organisers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan or make any ruling on their case, says Indonesian law expert Tim Lindsey.
Instead, lawyers for the two men hope Indonesian President Joko Widodo will come under political pressure to reassess their pleas for mercy if the court rules that the constitution requires the president to properly consider clemency submissions.
But Attorney-General H. M. Prasetyo has accused the men's legal team of "playing with justice" and vowed the Constitutional Court case would not delay the executions.
"If possible it should be done soon so everybody knows we're serious," Mr Prasetyo was quoted as saying by news wire detik.com.
He said the delays had made people question whether Indonesia would proceed with the executions. "I've never been afraid and I'm not under pressure. We will go ahead," Mr Prasetyo added.
However, Mr Prasetyo conceded the Asian-African conference, which will be held in Jakarta and Bandung from April 19 to 24, could be a consideration when deciding on the date of the executions.
"It wouldn't look good if you have many guests and you shoot people, although it is legal," he said.
Among those included in the next round of executions are three Nigerians, a man from Ghana and a Filipina.
Asked when the executions would be held, he said: "everything should be good, the weather, the situation and the conditions."
Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran announced on Monday that they would go to the Constitutional Court after the Administrative Court threw out the Bali nine pair's appeal on the grounds that it did not fall within the court's jurisdiction.
However Dr Lindsey stressed the latest case was a review of the clemency law itself and in no way an appeal.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Jewel Topsfield, April 7, 2015
Bali Nine duo accused of toying with the law to buy time
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| Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo |
Indonesia's Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo says lawyers representing two Australian drug smugglers are gaming the legal system to buy time by launching yet another legal challenge against their death sentences.
Mr Prasetyo was speaking on Tuesday after Jakarta's State Administration Court denied drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran the chance to appeal their death sentences by challenging President Joko Widodo's refusal to grant them clemency.
The duo's lawyers vowed on Tuesday to launch another legal challenge to Indonesia's Constitutional Court.
But Mr Prasetyo said Chan and Sukumaran's lawyers would be doing no more than buying time and playing the Indonesian legal system.
"It was an unusual legal effort, so what has been decided by the State Administration Court was a right [decision]," Mr Prasetyo was reported by the ABC as saying.
He said any further challenge would simply be "proof that they intend to buy time only, by playing with our law", and insisted they had exhausted all legal avenues.
"I think this is enough – I am saying this is enough. The legal process has been done."
But Foreign Minister Julie Bishop appealed directly again to the Indonesian President to reconsider the pair's call for clemency, saying the Australian government was disappointed with the latest court decision.
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Source: Financial Review, April 7, 2015
