Bauen

Monday, February 20, 2006

Sad.

NEVER GO TO BALI. INHUMAN "JUSTICE" SYSTEM.

Death for Chan, Sukumaran

14feb06
BALI Nine "enforcer" Myuran Sukumaran today joined Andrew Chan in being condemned to death by firing squad for attempting to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.

A three-judge panel found Sukumaran, 24, of Sydney, guilty of being a major player in an organised drug ring.

Cheers from some Indonesian anti-drug activists echoed in the court as the judges announced the words "hukuman mati", meaning death sentence.

Prosecutors had characterised him as being the "enforcer" of the Bali Nine gang which had tried to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Bali last April.

It was the second Bali Nine death sentence handed down by the Denpasar District Court today.

Earlier Andrew Chan, the so-called "godfather", was also ordered to face the firing squad.

Two drug mules, Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens, were both sentenced to life in prison.

Yesterday two more mules, Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush, were jailed for life.

The fate of three more defendants will be made known tomorrow. They are also expected to receive life sentences.


The court's decision to impose the death penalty on Chan and Sukumaran was not unexpected – when co-accused Renae Lawrence was sentenced on Monday prosecutors had asked for a 20-year term because she had assisted police in their investigations, but judges imposed a life term anyway.

The sentences came after a chaotic start to proceedings.

Chan, of Sydney, and Czugaj, were the first to be called in separate hearings.

But a media frenzy erupted when the two were escorted by police from a holding cell to two courtrooms.

At one stage, Chan was jostled and fell, almost toppling into a drainage ditch at the side of the building.

His guards held him up and pushed him through a pack of reporters and cameramen and then through a side door.

Nearby a group of Indonesian anti-drugs activists chanted: "Death! Death!".


Michael Czugaj, who was found guilty of attempting to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia and today given life imprisonment.

Czugaj is a school friend of Brisbane man Scott Rush, who with co-accused Renae Lawrence was jailed for life on Monday.

During the trial Czugaj, like Rush, said he was so excited at the offer of an overseas holiday in Bali that he was blind to the possible reasons behind the free trip.

"In all honesty I should not have been so blind to this, this so-called holiday," he said.

"But as Bali has always been a favourite destination, it made me overwhelmed with excitement."

Czugaj said he had no idea of Chan's agenda until the last day of his holiday when he was threatened with death.

A three-judge panel in the Denpasar District Court took less than an hour to read out its judgment and convict the 20-year-old Brisbane man of trying to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia on April 17 last year.

They said he had been found convincingly guilty of the primary charge of smuggling.

Czugaj sat with a impassive expression on his face as the verdict and sentence was read out, holding hands with his estranged parents, Stephan and Vicki.

He was then rushed to a holding cell at the rear of the court where he put on dark sunglasses and then tried to hug his mother through the cell bars.

Another Bali Nine member to receive a life sentence today was Wollongong man Martin Stephens, who was alleged to have operated as a drug mule.

A three-judge panel in the Denpasar District Court convicted the 29-year-old of trying to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia on April 17 last year.

They said he had been found convincingly guilty of the primary charge of smuggling.

Stephens was arrested at Bali airport with 2.9kg of heroin strapped to his body in five bags.

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