Canberra offers to pay cost of life imprisonment for drug smugglers in Indonesia
PUBLISHED : Friday, 13 March, 2015, 5:04am
UPDATED : Friday, 13 March, 2015, 4:42pm
Agence France-Presse in Jakarta
Australian Andrew Chan (right) and Myuran Sukumaran talk to their lawyer before their final appeal against their death sentence at Denpasar District Court in Bali on October 8, 2010. Photo: EPA
Indonesia has said it had rejected an offer from Australia to pay the cost of life imprisonment for two drug smugglers if they are spared the firing squad, as Jakarta signalled the executions might be weeks away.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made the offer to her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi as Canberra explores all avenues to avoid the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
They are among several foreigners, including a Frenchman, a Brazilian, three Nigerians and convicts from the Philippines and Ghana, who are expected to be executed in the near future for drug-related crimes.
However, the Indonesia attorney-general's office confirmed yesterday they would stick to an initial plan of putting all the offenders to death at the same time, meaning the date might be delayed for some time as authorities wait for several to complete all their final legal appeals.
Bishop suggested a prisoner-swap with Indonesia in a tense phone call with Marsudi on March 3. It was rejected, and in a follow-up letter she said Canberra was willing to pay for the pair's lifelong imprisonment costs.
But Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said later the payment offer had also been rejected.
"The death penalty has already been decided by the courts," he said. "This is not a negotiation; a legal decision has been taken."
