Two more foreigners sentenced to death

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Two more foreigners have been sentenced to death for smuggling drugs into the country last July.

Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and Indian Gurdip Singh, both 32 years old, were found guilty of smuggling drugs into the country in two separate trials on Monday at the Tangerang District Court, long known for its heavy-handedness in dealing with drug trafficking cases.

"There is no mitigating factor that could lead to a reduced sentence," presiding judge Suprapto told Gularte's trial packed by dozens of activists of the National Anti-Narcotics Movement (Granat).

As soon as Suprapto read out the verdict, Granat activists and other visitors applauded, lending strong support to the decision.

"We came here to express support for the judges and there should be no leniency for drug smugglers," Granat Tangerang chairman Benny Panjaitan told The Jakarta Post.

Clad in a white shirt and blue jeans, Gularte, who had told the court that he had wanted to sell the drugs to Americans in Bali and had asked for a lenient sentence, said he would still think over the verdict.

Singh, whose verdict was read out after Gularte's trial, said he would appeal. Prosecutor R. Vidianto, who had sought a 20-year sentence for Singh, said he would appeal.

Gularte and Singh's verdicts added to a long list of drug defendants who have been sentenced to death at the district court.

The court has sentenced to death 30 drug smugglers since January 2000, but none of them have been executed as they are still trying to exhaust all legal means available to seek a remission.

Gularte was arrested carrying 500 grams of pure heroine worth Rp 2.4 billion (US$265,000) in three large surfboard bags on July 31 last year, along with two other Brazilians -- Fred Silva Magueta and Emerson Vieira Guimaraes. The two were later freed due to lack of evidence to implicate them in the smuggling.

Singh was arrested carrying 300 grams of heroin at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport last July 29 when he was about to board a Star Air flight to Surabaya, East Java.

During the trial, Singh told the court that he had received the heroin from Zulfikar Ali, a Pakistani, who would soon stand trial at the same court for a similar crime.

He claimed that Ali, arrested along with his Indonesian girlfriend Dinong Pratidina in Ciampea, Bogor, West Java on Nov. 22, asked him to give the heroin to a man called Toni, in Malang. Toni is still at large.