Chaubey's 10 years of legal struggle ends

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan

Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey's 10-year fight to evade the firing squad ended in failure with his execution on Thursday by a squad of troopers from the North Sumatra Mobile Brigade.

The 67-year-old Indian national, who was convicted of illegal possession of heroin, tried every avenue provided by Indonesian law, but to no avail.

He had been transferred to Tanjung Gusta penitentiary in the North Sumatra capital of Medan after the local district court found him guilty and sentenced him to death in September 1994.

The police had arrested him seven months earlier at a hotel in Medan, shortly after he arrived in the city from Thailand, on suspicion of being involved in the smuggling of 12 kilograms of heroin.

His arrest came after police and customs officers apprehended two Thai men accused of bringing the heroin in through Polonia Airport in Medan. The Thais testified that the heroin was to have be handed over to Chaubey at the hotel.

Chaubey and the Thais were charged and tried under Law No. 9/1976 on narcotics, and all were sentenced to death on Sept. 8, 1994.

Through his lawyers from the Medan Legal Aid Institute, the Indian appealed the verdict.

It took the North Sumatra High Court three months to hear the appeal, which it rejected. Chaubey then appealed to the Supreme Court, but the country's highest court upheld the lower courts' decisions in June 1995.

The Supreme Court's verdict was final and conclusive.

Chaubey petitioned the Supreme Court for a review of his case in 1996, but this was rejected.

Seven years later, he sought a second review and, at the same time, petitioned the President for clemency.

Amid pressure from antidrug groups, President Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down Chaubey's request, which meant that the writing was on the wall for the Indian.

Right up to the day of his execution, Chaubey maintained that his conviction was unjust.

In a letter dated Feb. 14, 2003, he expressed his disappointment with Indonesian law officers and enforcers for ignoring his "demands for justice".

He said that the police had arrested him based solely on the statements of the Thais. He argued that the police had never proved that the heroin belonged to him.

"Where is the heroin? Are the Indonesian courts that blase about sentencing me to death?" he said.

Chaubey, who converted to Islam, taught English to his fellow inmates in Tanjung Gusta prison. He also ran the prison cooperative, and prison officers said that they were impressed by his seriousness and hard work.

However, Chaubey's time ran out on Thursday morning.

Wearing a sarong and a Muslim shirt, Chaubey leaned against a wooden post, 10 meters in front of the firing squad, awaiting the end.

Ten minutes after his execution, physicians declared him dead. After a post mortem at the Pirngadi General Hospital, he was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Medan.

Ayodhya P. Chaubey's long road to the firing squad

Feb. 24, 1994 Police arrest Chaubey at a hotel in Medan.

Sept. 8, 1994 Medan District Court sentences Chaubey to death.

Dec. 14, 1994 North Sumatra High Court rejects Chaubey's appeal.

Feb. 18, 2003 Supreme Court rejects Chaubey's appeal.

February 2004 President Megawati Soekarnoputri turns down Chaubey's request for clemency.

Aug. 5, 2004 Chaubey executed by firing squad.