Women executed for murder and mutilation
Women executed for murder and mutilation
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
A 49-year-old housewife was shot dead by a firing squad early on
Sunday morning after spending eight tough years in prison.
Astini, the housewife, had been found guilty of murdering and
mutilating three women between 1993 and 1995. She was executed in
an undisclosed location at 1:20 a.m. by a 12-member firing squad
who fired six live bullets at her heart from a range of five
meters. Head of the Surabaya District Court A.F Darmawan said
Astini had been seated at the time of her execution.
The execution was attended by Astini's spiritual gurus,
Mariningsih and Lilik Sulistyowati, her lawyer Ida Sampit Karo-
Karo and a police doctor.
Astini, who had become known as the butcher from Kampung
Malang, was sentenced to death in 1996 by the Surabaya District
Court after she was found guilty of murdering and mutilating
Rahayu, Sri Astuti Wijaya and Puji Astuti. Astini, who pleaded
guilty, said she had killed the three women as they had disturbed
her with frequent visits to collect money that she owed to them.
The execution on Sunday brought relief to relatives and
friends of the three women, some of whom expressed joy at the
arrival of the murderers' body on Sunday morning at DR. Soetomo
General Hospital in Surabaya.
"A life for a life!" Agus Purwanto, a relative of Puji Astuti,
screamed upon seeing the body carried into the hospital's morgue.
An autopsy was performed in just under three hours, after
which Astini's body was taken to Wonokusumo Kidul cemetery,
Surabaya.
Despite pleading guilty, Astini had fought for her life,
pleading for leniency from president Megawati Soekarnoputri.
However, the request was turned down in July last year by the
female president. The rejection made Astini the first woman in
the country to be sentenced to death by shooting.
Other people in the country executed by firing squad have
included Hoesin Umar Bafari, 1978, Henky Tupanwael and Kusni
Kasdut, 1980, Adi Saputra, 1993, Karta Tjahyadi and Katjong
Laranu, 1995, Gerson Pandie and Frederik Soru, 2001. More people
will be executed in the future, as there are at least 15 convicts
on death row at present, including three masterminds of the Bali
bombings in 2002 -- Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Imron.
Three foreign nationals were executed last year for drug
trafficking. Namsong Sirilak, a 32-year-old woman, and Saelow
Prasert, a 62-year-old man, both Thai nationals, were executed
separately on Oct. 1 last year. Another convict, who was
sentenced to death for smuggling 12 kilograms of heroin, Indian
national Ayodhay Prasad Chaubey, was executed in August in Medan,
North Sumatra.