Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2005
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Australian Associated Press
Cited: Australian Federal Police http://www.afp.gov.au/afp/page/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

INDONESIA COPS: WE DON'T NEED AFP HELP

Indonesian authorities say they won't need Australian police officers
to testify in court to get the Bali nine before a firing squad.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today withdrew co-operation in the
case, saying it was standing Australian policy not to assist in
foreign death penalty cases.

Indonesian police arrested the nine in Bali in April after a tip-off
from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Bali drug squad chief Colonel Bambang Sugiarto said testimony from AFP
officers would not be required in court.

"No problem ... their statements are not important according to the
law," he said.

Indonesian prosecutors yesterday handed over case files to the
Denpasar District Court, clearing the way for seven trials to begin
next month.

The files contain evidence gathered by AFP agents against the eight
men and one woman who all face drug charges that carry the death penalty.

But Mr Ruddock said: "We will not provide co-operation in relation to
criminal matters unless there is an assurance that a death penalty
will not be sought.

"If there was further information that had to be obtained from here
through the Australian Federal Police, we would seek an assurance that
Indonesia would not be wanting a death penalty in each of those
cases," he told reporters in Hobart.

In Perth, Justice Minister Chris Ellison later confirmed that any
request for assistance from Indonesia would have to be made under the
two countries' Mutual Assistance Treaty, and require the death penalty
to be taken off the table.

"Wherever an Australian faces the death penalty, we pull out all stops
to make a plea on their behalf for that not to be carried out,"
Senator Ellison said.

Colonel Sugiarto's assessment was backed by the prosecutor Ni Putu
Indriati, who will act in defendant Renae Lawrence's case.

"In the document, there are no AFP as witnesses, only a letter from
the AFP explaining there were Australians who wanted to export
narcotics," she said.

She said the withholding of Australian assistance would not affect the
case

Four of the nine Australians - detained at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport
in April allegedly with blocks of heroin weighing between 1.3 and 2.9
kilograms strapped to their bodies - will each be tried separately.

The four are Wollongong man Martin Stephens, 29, Brisbane duo Michael
Czugaj and Scott Rush, both 19, and Lawrence, 27, from Newcastle.

The so-called gang enforcer Andrew Chan, 21, of Sydney, will be tried
individually, as will the accused mastermind of the gang, Myuran
Sukumaran, 24, also from Sydney.

Three others - Brisbane man Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, and Sydney pair
Si Yi Chen, 20, and Matthew James Norman, 18 - who were arrested with
Sukumaran at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta, will be tried together.

The hotel raid, launched with the help of Australian Federal Police,
allegedly netted 300 grams of heroin divided between two small bags.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake