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.