Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Deja Vu


The nine Australians locked up over the big heroin bust in Bali may not see the inside of a court for many months.Indonesian police are still questioning the nine and have three days to name them officially as suspects following raids that netted more than 11kg of drugs at Bali airport and a hotel on Sunday night.
The investigators meanwhile will assemble preliminary evidence against the group and issue a letter authorising their continued detention.
Under Indonesia's legal system, which is rooted in pre-World War II Dutch colonial law, police can hold the suspects for 60 days while they complete dossiers of evidence.
That detention could be at police headquarters in Denpasar or in Bali's notorious Kerobokan Prison, where accused Gold Coast drug trafficker Schapelle Corby is being held.

The prison also was home until recently to the Bali bombers.
Unlike Australia, there is no initial court appearance, bail hearing or plea process in Indonesia.

After two months, police must hand over evidence briefs to the Denpasar prosecutor.
The prosecutor will then assess the evidence and decide whether police need to do more work or provide more information to proceed to trial.
The prosecutor then has another 60 days to complete legal indictments against the nine, which are then handed to the court in readiness for trial.
Indonesian courts do not have juries as in British-rooted legal systems, such as that in Australia.
Instead, evidence is considered by one or more judges, who interrogate witnesses and the accused, and form their own judgments.
I guess these 9 have the right to presumption of innocence till proven guilty, however when one has been under survelliance for weeks and arrested with 4 million dollars worth of drugs strapped your body its difficult to fathom their innocence.
The media in Australia are driving me crazy, accusing Australian Federal Police of falling down the job. Saying that they should have waited till the 9 hit Australian shores and charged them here, that way the death penalty would have been avoided.
Well i say bullshit!! The 9 have been under survelliance by Indonesian police for 2 or 3 weeks, they had valid suspiscion, its their jurisdiction. Aussie feds had nothing to do with it. I mean if it had happened here then its a different matter.
It all boils down to when people travel to other parts of the world, they should not only read the (Australian Government) travel advisories but they should also make absolutely sure that they understand that the Australian Government can't send in the SAS and bail you out if you get into trouble.

4 Comments:

Blogger if_i_had_a_hammer said...

seriously...sorry about their luck. indonesia's system sounds kinda harsh, but it should be up to them whether they want to change it or not. sounds like those nine aussies picked the wrong place to mess around.

8:29 PM  
Blogger Michelle said...

J ~ Indonesia's legal system is draconic. This however is well known in Australia having much of our population using Bali as a holiday destination. Agreed, its not for anyone else to decide how country prosecutes criminals. These 9 new the risks and still choose to take them...no sympathy at all from me.

9:07 PM  
Blogger BeFrank said...

Fascinating info.

You know, I lurk often, but I'm too worn out to hit the right keys most days to form a coherent comment.

2:21 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Bryan ~ You lurker you! welcome home from your roman jaunt!

6:39 AM  

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