Bali Nine sentence cuts recommended
AAP
By Gabrielle Dunlevy, AAP Southeast Asia Correspondent August 17, 2014, 7:40 pm
Indonesian authorities have recommended all of the Australian Bali Nine be given lesser sentences. AAP
The bid to spare the lives of two Australians facing the death penalty has new support from Indonesian authorities, who want all of the so-called Bali Nine to receive lesser sentences.
To mark Indonesia's Independence Day, prisons can nominate well behaved inmates for remission.
The only member of the nine Australians convicted over the foiled 2005 heroin trafficking plot who was eligible was Renae Lawrence, as the others were sentenced to either life or death.
However Kerobokan prison governor Farid Junaedi on Sunday told reporters he put all of the Bali Nine forward - including Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan - who were sentenced to death.
"The suggestion was made before August 17," he said.
"Those with the death sentence to be reduced to life in jail.
"Those with life in jail should become terms of punishment 15-20 years."
The fate of Sukumaran and Chan is in the hands of Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who received their appeals for clemency two years ago.
The two were deemed the ringleaders of the operation but have made great strides in rehabilitation, according to prison authorities.
A Kerobokan staff member, who couldn't be identified, said the request for the other six would also be handed to the president, who leaves office in October.
Clemency for drug offenders, who are severely punished in Indonesia, won't be a priority for his successor Joko Widodo.
Sukumaran says he is still passing the time productively in the art studio, also an outlet to help other inmates.
"It's a hard wait," he told reporters at Kerobokan on Sunday.
"It's a very difficult thing to put into words.
"I just don't want to be shot, really."
As part of Independence Day celebrations at the prison on Sunday, there was a rock band, games and Balinese dancers.
Since their 2006 conviction, the nine have been split between other jails.
Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj and Matthew Norman are also still in Kerobokan.
Martin Stephens and Tan Duc Nguyen have been moved to a jail in Malang, Java, and Scott Rush is detained at Karangasem, also in Bali.
Lawrence is in Bangli, another Bali jail, after her involvement in a plot to kill two prison guards at Kerobokan.
Authorities say her behaviour has improved but their recommendation to cut a further six months from her 20-year sentence has yet to be processed.
