Prosecutors seek a Dutch interpreter

TANGERANG: The hearing of a drug case at Tangerang District Court was adjourned again on Monday, as prosecutors are yet to find an interpreter for Dutch defendant Sibel Yuacuac, 20.

Sibel was arrested at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport with 4,862 ecstasy pills in her bag, upon her arrival from Malaysia late in August.

She is charged with violating Law No. 5/1999 on psychotropic substances. If proven guilty, she will face a maximum sentence of death.

The trial was scheduled to start last Thursday, but prosecutors refused to use either one of two staff members from the Netherlands embassy office who were in attendance as interpreters, said lawyer Hendrik.

The defendant, who was depressed and had once tried to commit suicide, told The Jakarta Post that she could not speak fluent English and need an interpreter.

However, prosecutors said that in the next session they would use an English interpreter for the defendant.

Presiding judge Ade Komarusin adjourned the trial until Wednesday. -- JP