Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2005
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005sThe Australian
Contact: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/files/aus_letters.htm
Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author: Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schapelle (Schapelle Corby)

MORE JAIL FOR CORBY WHATEVER THE RESULT

SCHAPELLE Corby will remain in a Bali jail possibly for months even if
three Indonesian judges acquit her on Friday.

Chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu has told The Australian he
intends to launch an appeal if the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman were
found guilty of drug smuggling but sentenced to anything less than
life in prison, the sentence he has recommended.

"What is suitable is a life sentence," he said. "If it is less than
that, it will not fit our sense of what is just, so we will appeal."

Appeals to Bali's High Court can take anywhere from weeks to months to
be decided. Either side can then appeal to Indonesia's Supreme Court,
based in Jakarta.

With four days to go before learning her fate, Corby, who was recently
baptised in the Bali jail and has taken to reading the Bible in her
cell, has made a last desperate plea to Indonesia's President for an
official pardon. Her lawyers are preparing an official petition to
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that may be sent before Friday's
verdict.

If Ms Corby's defence lawyers appeal, they run the risk of the High
Court imposing a tougher sentence, as it has in previous drugs cases.
Yet Ms Corby's chief lawyer, Lily Lubis, has repeatedly vowed that she
would appeal if her client were sentenced to a prison term, however
light.

Mr Wiswantanu said an appeal would follow if the judges deciding the
case gave unwarranted weight to documents tendered after the trial
process had ended, such as the Australian Government's letter and a
statement of facts that Ms Corby's barristers sent to the judges.

The letter and statement concerned the cocaine-smuggling ring
operating in Australian airports on October 8 last year, the day Ms
Corby flew to Bali.

She was arrested at Denpasar airport when 4.1kg of marijuana was found
in her unlocked body-board bag.

Made Suraatmaja, a judge and spokesman for the Denpasar District
Court, said defence lawyers had to consider an appeal very carefully.

He said that in one case the prosecution recommended the death
penalty, but judges sentenced the defendant to life in prison. The
defendant appealed and the High Court increased the penalty to death.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake