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.