Bali 9 Bribes Allegations

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    Bali nine death sentence judges 'asked for bribes' for a lighter sentence: new claim

    Date
    February 15, 2015 - 10:44PM
    • 676 reading now
    Exclusive: Jewel Topsfield,Tom Allard and Amilia Rosa

    Executions imminent: Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Photo: Anta Kesuma
    The six judges who handed down the death penalty to the Bali nine pair on death row offered to give them a lighter sentence in exchange for money, the men's Indonesian legal team alleges.
    The sensational allegation is contained in a letter sent by the legal team of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to Indonesia's judicial committee, claiming there had been a breach of ethics.
    The letter says the judges received pressure from "certain parties" to hand out the death penalty.
    The lawyers, led by human rights advocate Todung Mulya Lubis, told the judicial committee that all six judges who brought down the death sentence had breached ethics.
    The new claim follows the shock intervention of the Bali nine's former legal counsel, Muhammad Rifan, last weekend, who said there had been an "intervention" that could discredit him but provided no details.
    In an extraordinary statement after visiting the men inside Kerobokan prison, Mr Rifan said he was prepared to "take the heat" and provide the "never revealed evidence" to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran's current lawyer, Mr Mulya.
    "It's something that implicates us, it could discredit me. But for them I will take it. I told Myuran it's okay," Mr Rifan said cryptically. "It's one last thing I can do for them."
    Following his dramatic, if imprecise, comments, Mr Rifan left Indonesia to travel to Mecca for a religious pilgrimage.
    The lawyers, meanwhile, have also written to Indonesia's Attorney-General, H.M Prasetyo, requesting a stay of execution for Chan and Sukumaran, who are due to be executed this month.
    They say their clients have an outstanding legal challenge in the administrative court and there is still a chance for their clients to have their sentence commuted.
    The letter to the judicial committee is the third appeal this year by the pair's lawyers.
    A bid for a second judicial review foundered after it was found it contained no new evidence.
    A case lodged with the administrative court in Jakarta is pending, although Mr Prasetyo has already requested that it be dismissed.
    Mr Prasetyo's conduct has raised questions about the independence of Indonesia's judiciary.
    Chan and Sukumaran have been facing imminent execution for several weeks. On Monday, Australian embassy officials will attend a meeting in Jakarta with the Indonesian government to discuss the arrangements for the killing by firing squad. .
 
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