Corby gets chance to find new witnesses

Corby gets chance to find new witnesses

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

The Denpasar District Court gave another chance on Wednesday for
lawyers of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby to find more
witnesses who can support claims that marijuana found in her
surfboard bag was planted. Three witnesses were scheduled to
testify in court on Wednesday, but only one showed up; legal
expert Indriyanto Senoadji. The other two, a police officer from
Bali and a police officer from the Australian Federal Police.

The next hearing is scheduled for August 3.

Indriyanto told the panel of judges that the court should be
willing to bring in more witnesses to get a clearer picture of
the case.

"The witnesses will help shed light on how the bag of
marijuana got into the surfboard bag," said Indriyanto.

Other witnesses slated to testify include immigration and
customs officials from Ngurah Rai airport, he said.

In the legal expert's opinion, the testimonies from those
witnesses were incomplete as they only testified earlier that
there was a bag of drugs in Corby's luggage, but they had no idea
whether she truly put the marijuana in.

The Denpasar District Court sentenced Corby to 20 years in
prison on May 27 for smuggling 4.2 kilograms (9 pounds) of
marijuana to Bali. It soon became a high-profile case as the
majority of Australians protested that Corby was innocent.

Following the verdict, Corby made an appeal to the Bali High
Court. Responding to the appeal, the court officials ordered the
case to be reopened at the Denpasar District Court, primarily to
hear testimonies from new witnesses. These and previous
testimonies will be examined by the Bali High Court so it can
decide on the appeal.

The trial on Wednesday was only attended by a handful of
people, including Corby's relatives and foreign tourists.

The former Australian beauty school student wiped away tears
on a number of occasions as she listened to her interpreter.

Judge Linton Sirait said that Aug. 3 would be the last chance
for lawyers to produce the new witnesses. Earlier, Corby's
lawyers said that would have 12 witnesses, including Indriyanto
in the appeal hearing.

In a separate development, lawyers for Corby would be allowed
to seek immunity for witnesses who give evidence that might free
(Corby) from her Indonesian prison, Australian Justice Minister
Chris Ellison said on Wednesday, as quoted by AFP.

Ellison denied media reports quoting Corby's defense team,
which stated that Australia had refused to consider granting
immunity to a person who claims he planted the drugs inside her
bags.

Indonesian lawyer Erwin Siregar told The Daily Telegraph:
"I've received information that there is somebody (who wants) to
come to Bali to state that he put the marijuana in Schapelle's
bag, but because the Australian government (will) not give
immunity, they don't want to tell."

Ellison said in a statement that he had written to Corby's
defense team advising them to approach Australia's director of
public prosecutions (DPP) if they "wish to seek immunity from
prosecution in Australia for any witnesses".

"I have also written to the Commonwealth DPP informing him
that Ms Corby's lawyers may make an application for immunity."

Ellison said if Corby's lawyers wanted their witnesses to have
immunity from prosecution under Indonesian law, they had to
encourage Jakarta to ask Australia for a mutual assistance
request to allow this to happen.