21 drug traffickers sentenced to death, none executed

21 drug traffickers sentenced to death, none executed

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Since Laws No. 22/1997 on narcotics and 5/1997 on psychotropic
substances, which stipulate as maximum penalties the death
sentence, took effect in the country, the Tangerang District
Court has made the most of the legislation to mete out capital
punishment.

In the last case, the court handed down on Monday the death
penalty to Ang Kiem Soei, a Dutch passport holder who owned two
ecstasy factories in Tangerang.

Besides Ang Kiem Soei, 20 other people, mostly foreigners,
received the death sentence after January 2000 for smuggling
drugs into the country. Another was sentenced to life.

Six are women.

None of the convicts, however, has been executed.

"The carrying out of the death penalty is not simple but a
long process that requires at least five years until it can be
implemented," Tangerang District Court chief M. Hatta Ali said.

Even though the district court may have sentenced a defendant
to death, he or she may appeal to the high court, and later to
the Supreme Court.

In five cases, the West Java High Court reduced death
sentences to life sentences. The Supreme Court commuted one death
sentence to a 15-year jail term.

On the other hand, the court of appeal may also impose a more
severe sentence, as happened to a Malawian who received a life
sentence from the district court. He appealed but the High Court
imposed the death penalty.

The reason why defendants or convicts receive different
sentences is that it all depends on the judges.

"We, the judges, can't say we are disappointed, even though
the High Court or the Supreme Court may reduce the maximum
penalty we have already imposed, because they have their own
authority to do so," Hatta told The Jakarta Post in a recent
interview.

He said the Supreme Court probably regarded life imprisonment
or a 15-year jail term as the fairest punishment, even though
judges at the Tangerang District Court considered the death
penalty the most suitable punishment for drug smugglers.

Even though the Supreme Court has handed down the ruling, this
does not mean that the process has ended. Convicts may still ask
the Supreme Court to review the case, and then request a
presidential pardon, as stipulated in Law No.3/1950 on clemency
request.

According to Hatta, the law even states that a defendant may
file a request for a pardon request to the president more than
once, should the president reject the request.

He said if a defendant remained sentenced to death after the
Supreme Court had reviewed the case and did not file a clemency
request to the president, the district court judges, who had
earlier handed down the death penalty, and the court chief were
obliged to file a clemency request to the president on behalf of
the defendant based on Supreme Court Decree No. 1/1986.

Hatta said that to control defendants who were on death row,
and to make sure that they were still at the penitentiary, the
court had a team of judges whose task was to monitor their
presence there. The team consisted of five judges, who were
replaced once every six months.

Implementation of the death penalty, as stipulated in
Emergency Law No 12/1955, should be witnessed by prosecutors,
while a platoon of police officers will act as the firing squad.

When quizzed on the death penalty, Tangerang prosecutor's
office chief Himawan Kaskawa refused to comment any further on
the matter.