Two Australian drug traffickers serving 20 years in jail on Bali received sentence cuts yesterday as part of Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations, an official said.
Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence received a five-month remission for “good behavior,” Bali’s Kerobokan prison chief Siswanto said.
“It’s confirmed they each received remission of five months. It’s the fourth time for Corby and fifth for Renae,” he said, adding the sentence cuts would total up to 17 months for Corby and 23 months for Lawrence.
Well-behaved prisoners traditionally receive sentence reductions on the nation’s Independence Day.
More than 58,000 prisoners, including militants, drug smugglers and people convicted of corruption, were granted remissions by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, prison official Suherman said.
Corby, 33, was found guilty of trafficking 4.1kg of marijuana in 2005.
She has always maintained her innocence and claims international drug smugglers placed the marijuana in her luggage.
She submitted a clemency appeal to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month asking for a sentence reduction.
Her lawyers had asked that she be released on humanitarian grounds because of mental illness.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia supported the plea.
Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar confirmed yesterday that the appeal had been sent to Yudhoyono, but refused to give details.
Siswanto said the remission and her clemency appeal were separate matters.
“Remission is granted on the occasion of Independence Day ... there’s no relation to her clemency appeal, which will be decided by the president,” he said.
Lawrence, 33, is one of the so-called “Bali Nine,” a group of Australians convicted over a plot to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali into Australia in 2005.
Five gang members are serving life sentences and three others that are on death row have filed a final appeal for their sentences to be reduced to 20 years.
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