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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc: 
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 Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5708138 - 06/03/06 04:29 PM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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Help me, writes desperate Corby
June 4, 2006 - The Sunday Mail
ONE year ago the nation was full of sympathy for the girl with the piercing green eyes – now, Schapelle Corby is reduced to writing letters to strangers from a Bali jail to plead her innocence.
The handwritten letters often come complete with a few lines of poetry and signed off with Corby's trademark "smiley face".
"Courage doesn't always roar, sometimes it's just a little voice at the end of the day that says 'I'll try again tomorrow'," a recent letter to her Australian supporters said.
"The weaker you get, the stronger you become . . . Today may be a mountain, but I was born to climb."
A year after she broke down in the Denpasar District Court upon receiving a 20-year jail sentence, the convicted drug trafficker claims her band of supporters is all that keeps her going in Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Her desperate tone has changed from the once assured Gold Coast beauty student who despite being found guilty of trafficking 4.1kg of marijuana felt she had most Australians on her side.
"Thank you for your letters of support, they really do encourage me and keep me in touch with the world," she wrote. "I do appreciate the effort and time you have put into them. I need them. They help keep my hope alive."
Lynette Rogers, from Lismore in northern NSW, received the letter after writing to express support. "I just wanted her to know she is not alone," Ms Rogers said.
Corby clearly still harbours a deep bitterness towards politicians and the media, and claims to be the victim of a conspiracy.
"Thank you for . . . your constant support through many blown out of proportion and/or complete rubbish media reports and public statements and quotes from government authorities which have been untrue, uncalled for and downright damaging."
Attached to the single page letter is a list of politicians to lobby, including Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"If you're feeling frustrated by this brutal trial of my injustice and want to do something, please write to these people."
While most supporters get a photocopy of her standard letter, Corby occasionally includes playful personal notes.
"Dear Murray, So you sing and write poetry, hey?" she wrote to one supporter. "How about penning some inspiring or even brutal reality poetry in my favour, to put a smile on my face?"
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 motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5708142 - 06/03/06 04:30 PM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5800332 - 06/28/06 05:25 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Prisoner deal offers new hope for Corby
June 29, 2006 - theadvertiser.com.au
AUSTRALIA and Indonesia suddenly have moved closer to a prisoner-exchange deal, which is expected to be signed in Bali today.
Details of the agreement have not been settled but if the deal takes the likely course it will mean convicted drug carriers Schapelle Corby and members of the Bali Nine could be given the chance to complete their sentences in Australia.
Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin revealed late yesterday he planned to finalise arrangements for the treaty when he meets Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in Bali today. The plan is to sign the agreement in September.
Revelations a prisoner-exchange treaty between Australia and its near neighbour is close to reality will come as good news to at least some of the Australians in Bali's Kerobokan jail.
It comes as a surprise to many who believed such a treaty was years away, especially after relations between the countries chilled in the wake of the Papuan asylum-seekers row.
Some Indonesian officials and lawmakers have suggested, in the past few months, that prisoner-exchange was off the table until the asylum issue had been properly resolved.
Dr Awaluddin told a press conference, on the sidelines of a two-day joint ministerial meeting in Bali, the countries now had ironed out any "major differences" on the issue.
"We do not have any differences between me as Minister of Justice of Indonesia and Attorney-General of Australia," Dr Awaluddin said.
"I hope tomorrow (Thursday) we will finalise this talk when I meet the Attorney-General and if we reach that agreement tomorrow I expect when I visit Australia in September we can sign bilateral agreement."
Dr Awaluddin said the agreement was now "substantively" arranged. However, he did not give details of how much of their sentences Australian prisoners would need to serve in Indonesia before they would qualify to go home to a prison in their own state.
The issue was reinvigorated after former beauty student Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years' jail for marijuana smuggling. At this time it was suggested prisoners would first need to serve about half of their sentence in Indonesia, similar to an agreement between Australia and Thailand. Uncertainty remains for those jailed for life, given that not all states of Australia have truth in sentencing when it comes to life terms.
However, the two Bali Nine ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who received the death penalty, may not benefit from the scheme.
Ten Australians are in Bali's jail. Aside from Corby, Chan and Sukumaran, five other members of the Bali Nine are serving 20-year jail terms and two have had their life sentences confirmed by the High Court. While the announcement will be good news to some of these, others have previously said they would rather serve their jail terms in Bali.
This is because money in an Indonesian jail can buy prisoners many privileges which are strictly banned in Australian jails and early remissions here can slash years from sentences.
Dr Awaluddin sidestepped the question of when three of the 2002 Bali bombers, all on death row, will be executed, saying it was a matter for the country's Attorney-General. However, he confirmed Balinese prosecutors had two weeks ago requested that the trio face the firing squad at the Nusa Kambangan island prison where they are held rather than be returned to Bali for the execution.
But the bombers' lawyers have put the brakes on any plans for imminent firing squad action, saying the trio will seek to lodge further applications for judicial reviews of their cases.
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5800849 - 06/28/06 08:10 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Ahh.. hope.... 
Thanks for keeping us updated on this veggie.. 
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http://heffter.org
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bluemeanie
Cow boy
Registered: 06/18/01
Posts: 5,716
Loc: orbit
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: motaman]
#5802129 - 06/29/06 02:52 AM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Indeed - sounds like she and the 'bali nine' might be serving their sentence at home - well actually only the bali seven, because two are on death row...
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Holidaying in San Diego...
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Iamthewalrus
every evening Idied and everynight I wasreborn
Registered: 03/24/04
Posts: 3,744
Loc: Ontario
Last seen: 3 years, 7 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: bluemeanie]
#5802268 - 06/29/06 05:28 AM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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I think I might write to her if I can...this kinda shit makes me sick...when are we gonna wake the fuck up
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Corby's wish: last birthday behind bars [Re: veggie]
#5882907 - 07/20/06 08:42 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19749112-421,00.html
Corby's wish: last birthday behind bars
From:
By Cindy Wockner
July 11, 2006
Family / Lukman S Bintoro
Jailhouse visit ... Schapelle Corby's mother Rosleigh, sister Mercedes and her family yesterday. Photo: Lukman S Bintoro
IF Schapelle Corby had one birthday wish yesterday it was that she never has to celebrate another milestone behind the walls of Bali's Kerobokan Jail - or any prison.
The former Gold Coast beauty therapy student turned 29 and had a low-key celebration with her mother Rosleigh Rose, sister Mercedes and her family, who visited for an hour.
It came as her lawyers revealed they hoped to lodge an application for an extraordinary appeal within the next three weeks in a bid to prove her innocence.
Yesterday Mercedes' young children, Wayan and Nellie, sang happy birthday to their aunt but there were no birthday candles and no grand cake.
"She is hoping it is the last (birthday) she has in jail," Mercedes said after the visit.
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Corby on verge of coming home [Re: motaman]
#5936493 - 08/06/06 08:24 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby on verge of coming home
August 06, 2006 - Daily Telegraph
A TEAM from Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office will fly to Jakarta within days to tie up a formal prisoner-exchange agreement with Indonesia.
The agreement is expected be signed next month when Minister for Law and Human Rights Hamid Awaludin visits Australia for a formal ceremony in Canberra, and Schapelle Corby is set to benefit from the deal.
"Negotiations to actually start to exchange prisoners can then begin immediately," the Indonesian government spokesman said.
"We have an in-principle agreement in place now, and there just remains one or two outstanding issues of a very technical nature to clear up."
Corby was sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian prison after more than 4 kg of marijuana was found in her boogie-board bag at Bali airport.
It is unclear if those serving life terms will benefit.
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Anno
Experimenter
Registered: 06/17/99
Posts: 24,064
Loc: my room
Last seen: 8 hours, 51 minutes
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Schapelle Corby trial delayed [Re: veggie]
#5980694 - 08/20/06 12:41 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20136667-1702,00.html
Corby faces final appeal next week
August 11, 2006 - 4:15PM
Australian authorities want Schapelle Corby's final appeal against her Bali drug smuggling conviction to fail because her arrival home would expose "lies and corruption", her mother claims.
Lawyers for 29-year-old Corby, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, will take her appeal to the Denpasar District Court next week, probably on Friday.
"Today we submitted our application for a judicial review on behalf of our client Schapelle Corby," her lawyer Erwin Siregar said.
The Supreme Court will make a final decision on her appeal after the district court hearing.
It will be Corby's last shot at proving her innocence before she makes a plea for clemency to Indonesia's president.
Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, said the appeal offered a chance to "get to the truth".
Corby has long maintained that the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her bodyboard bag at Denpasar Airport in October 2004 was planted by baggage handlers involved in moving drugs around in Australia.
"There's still hope ... it has to be dug up to get to the truth," Rose said in Brisbane.
"I can't believe how our government and the federal police have lied - they don't want her home, free.
"They know someone is responsible for what has happened to Schapelle and the federal police are covering it up, about the corruption at the airports.
"There's a lot more stuff going on ... they are up to something and they don't want it out because it's so corrupt."
She said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty made Corby "look bad every time he commented".
"He said Schapelle didn't want their help with DNA [testing the marijuana] ... but Schapelle asked for their help," Rose said.
A police spokesman had no immediate comment on Rose's allegations.
It is not yet clear whether Corby will appear in person at the appeal, expected on Friday.
"If the judges want her to appear, she has to, although we the lawyers can represent her," said Siregar.
Indonesian law says there are three reasons for a judicial review appeal, including new evidence, disparity of decision made by judges at one of the courts, and judicial negligence.
The defence team plans to submit a document requested from Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison in relation to possible drug smuggling at Australian airports the day Corby left for Bali.
The 19-page document setting out Corby's appeal also claims mistakes and discrepancies by the judges who convicted her.
Her lawyers will argue she should be acquitted because the judges did not properly distinguish between importing, owning and using marijuana.
The document says prosecutors could prove only that she was in possession of the marijuana found in her bodyboard bag, but not that she was importing it.
"All the facts are leading to the possession charge, but the prosecutors didn't charge her with that, therefore, by law, she must be acquitted," says the document, submitted in Indonesian.
Corby's lawyers also argue her sentence was too harsh, compared to punishments handed down for similar offences elsewhere in Indonesia.
In making her final appeal, Corby runs no risk of increasing her sentence, as a judicial review can only maintain or reduce her prison term, or acquit her altogether.
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Da_Vine
eat me
Registered: 07/03/04
Posts: 297
Loc: jamaica mon
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial delayed [Re: Anno]
#5990528 - 08/23/06 06:26 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20235235-5006009,00.html
"I'll come home free"
WITH just a day to go before her last-ditch bid to win an appeal against her drug smuggling conviction Schapelle Corby indicated yesterday she did not want to serve out her 20-year sentence in an Australian jail.
"If she is coming back to Australia, she wants to come back as a free woman," her lawyer Erwin Siregar said.
He said this was because Corby's focus was on winning her appeal and her freedom from the 20-year sentence.
She was not concentrating on the detail of a prisoner transfer arrangement being negotiated between Indonesia and Australia.
Mr Siregar was confident of winning the application which will focus on the lack of sufficient evidence to find beyond reasonable doubt that Corby was "in control" of the marijuana discovered in her boogie board bag.
"There is so much reasonable doubt and so many procedures of investigation they not do (sic)," Mr Siregar said.
The legal team's aim is to have Corby's conviction thrown out altogether and sent home to Australia. A legal academic will testify about the law in relation to trafficking of drugs versus the offence of possession.
If the charge is not thrown out, he said at its very highest the court could only find Corby guilty of possession of the drug - a much lesser charge carrying only a 10-year maximum term.
Corby was all smiles yesterday inside Bali's Kerobokan jail. Wearing a cap over her new short hair and a sweater over her white T-shirt, the 29-year-old spent an hour with her lawyers.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: Da_Vine]
#6305172 - 11/27/06 03:32 PM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
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Schapelle's heart of darkness
November 17, 2006 - ninemsn.com.au
From her cell, Schapelle Corby, in an exclusive interview, reveals the depths of her Bali prison hell and her desperate hopes for freedom. Kathryn Bonella reports.
If you believe what you've read in the women's magazines and hear on the grapevine, Schapelle Corby's life is pretty cushy. She might be doing 20 years in a third world prison but she's had a string of lovers and gets out regularly to hit clubs around Kuta. In fact these days she's as ubiquitous at nightclubs in Bali as Paris Hilton is at first-night parties.
It's practically sport nowadays for Australian expats in Bali to talk of Schapelle Corby sightings - someone they know who spotted her out dancing or drinking coffee. But it's not just gossip any longer; somewhere along the line these mythical sightings have become such credible fact that Channel Nine News recently asked about filming her on one of her days out, and her sister Mercedes is constantly getting calls from journalists about it.
"What do they want ... to photograph me out surfing on my boogie board maybe?" Schapelle laughs. "It's so ridiculous. If I did get out there would be photographs. I can't even walk around the jail without someone pointing a camera phone at me," she says sitting in Kerobokan Prison's visiting area - the closest she gets to the outside world these days.
As for her "secret jail lover" as reported in New Idea two weeks ago, or last week's latest twist reported in Woman's Day - a love affair with Bali Nine ringleader 22-year-old Andrew Chan, Corby is mortified.
"It's unbelievable. These magazines simply make it up. It's complete fiction. None of it is true. I have never had a boyfriend or sex in here. Come on! This place is vile and disgusting. Where are we supposed to have done it ... in the church toilet or the filthy visit area? No way. I'm so embarrassed that people are reading this total crap about me."
In an exclusive interview for The Bulletin, Schapelle talks about her book My Story which she says will finally give the public the true story, undoing a lot of the rubbish, rumours and hurtful lies written about her for the past two years.
"It's shattering, I feel so small. The whole nation, my home, reading degrading gossip - with the internet this gossip is worldwide. It crushes me and devastates me. I will never understand why this constant degrading of me goes on. I've been humiliated - exceedingly - way over the normal limits of life's humiliations. I have a 20-year sentence. I've been hurt beyond belief. Why do these people keep attacking me, insulting me? I won't be quiet and stand for it any longer. This is why I've written a book."
Corby says the truth is that her life is absolute hell. She has no semblance of a comfortable life; no privileges, certainly no days out - not even to see a dentist about her rotting teeth. Ever since she happily stepped off her flight in Bali two years ago, she's been living a nightmare.
"I live in the most gross, disgusting world now. I can never forget where I am or who I'm living with. I don't totally trust anyone. My things are always being stolen and I'm always watching my back."
Corby lives in a seedy world overcrowded with terrorists, pedophiles and murderers. She's locked up for 15 hours a day in a small, stinking, hot cement cell that often has rats and feral cats coming in and has a sickening stench from the open sewer behind it.
But when you meet her in the visiting area of Kerobokan Prison it's hard to fathom she's come from such foulness. She usually does look ready to go out for a day, wearing make-up, bronzing powder, a spray of Gucci perfume and lately a bandana or cap to cover her cropped hair from sneaky photographers who persistently stalk her.
Corby puts on fresh clothes and gets ready for a visit like she really has got some place to go. But she doesn't. She has absolutely nowhere to go. The furthest she's got in two years - apart from court and hospital - is the filthy little visiting area about 100 metres across the jail grounds to see her family or friends. That is what she dresses up for. That is the highlight of her life nowadays.
Incredibly, mostly she walks into a visit smiling, with something to talk about in her enthusiastic way, always trying to be upbeat and brave. She talks about anything from the latest news about Brad and Angelina or Keith and Nicole - not that she believes any of it nowadays - to some trivia she's read and loves to collect like "Hey, did you know an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain?" She is also always keenly interested in news and events in the outside world. Last week she asked friends to place a bet for her in the Melbourne Cup. They backed Mandela - because he was a fighter like she is - but unfortunately it didn't do much good. "It's still walking home," she laughs a few days later.
Unsurprisingly, however, most of her conversation is about prison life and the latest drama playing out in her world - anything from a female prisoner overdosing on bleach or perfume (last week), to women viciously attacking each other with broken bottles or a rat giving birth in her shoes.
There are days when she is unable to hide her fear and pain, usually because she's seen something so horrific that it's well beyond her coping mechanisms - like a prisoner bashed almost to death. Other times it's nothing in particular that breaks her spirit … it's absolutely everything.
She might slip into a black hole of depression for a single day, a week or a fortnight, losing her fragile grip on holding it together. During these times, she often asks her family not to visit. She shuts herself down to fight the depression, forcefully erasing negative thoughts. Corby says this blackness is always lurking just beneath the surface, no matter how "normal" she seems, a minute rarely passes when she doesn't feel the crushing weight of her 20-year sentence.
"I'm innocent and I shouldn't be here, and the government should be doing something, and someone should put their hand up. I may wear make-up and I may look okay but I'm not okay. I'm hanging on tightly to a knot at the end of a rope and I know I could slip off anytime. The pain some days is unbearable. I didn't do this and I shouldn't be in here. This is my life and this is what is happening to me and I want everyone to know and be aware what this life is like."
Corby says she wants people to know her hell, to understand it. She was determined to put all the gruesome detail of prison life in her book, regardless of any repercussions. She says she's stripped of any privileges already - even a power point in her cell was ripped out a few weeks ago. She says Kerobokan is a "soul-sucking dump" and she does not want anyone to think her life is in any way OK.
"Hopefully the person who did this - no doubt, more than one person would know - will gain a twinge of guilt to finally speak up. Someone who knows something has watched my whole sorry story play out on television and in the papers. I also breathe hope of our government stepping in to intervene, despite the comments and lack of help, I still keep a thread of hope for that to happen."
Corby is clinging to the belief that wrongs do get righted; in the end life will be fair, and her innocence will set her free. "I'm always thinking someday soon the guards will come and say 'OK Corby pack your bags, you're going home.' When that happens I will be the happiest girl in the world."
But she refuses to let her hopes rise too high, as they've already been crushed over and over, each time knocking her so hard that she's been unable to get out of bed for days.
Six months ago Corby was really struggling under the weight of it all. She'd lost her final appeal and had 20 years reinstated after it'd been dropped to 15. It wasn't unusual to sit in a visit with her sobbing, with her chin quivering and biting her lip, attempting to control herself - as she regularly did in court. In this distraught state, she'd often ask the same killer question that you'd desperately want to find an impossible comforting answer for. "How much longer do I have to stay here?"
She'd ask Mercedes this question constantly. Mercedes would usually give the same answer, "not much longer, Schapelle", trying to make both of them feel better. This was a regular little exchange between the two sisters.
But in the second half of this year, Schapelle seems to have grown stronger, rarely crying in visits. It's probably a combination of reasons - she's moved into a cell with only six women, which means she gets more sleep; no longer sharing with a heroin addict and seeing the back of a Dutch prisoner who made her life hell by stalking her with a camera and spreading lies about her being a drug dealer inside jail. (This woman went straight to New Idea as soon as she was released.)
Schapelle admits she's probably also adapted to prison life. She's also got the tangible and realistic hope of another possible appeal, and will find out in the next few months whether that will be granted. And she says writing her book has helped to give her strength through the renewed sense that she does in fact have a voice, she is not just a victim.
"I've had this horrible drug-smuggling conviction attached to my name. I may now be tagged as a prisoner, a criminal, but I am still a person. I still have a heart and I'm aware of everything that is said and reported about me. I hear it all. Merc brings in the articles or people send them to me. I've been a prostitute, I have jail lovers, I'm now a slut, a weirdo, all these horrible things printed about me and it's not true.
"With a book I'm in total control of what is written and what is printed. Essentially I'm a private person, but I've decided - with a considerable amount of thought - to tell my story."
Schapelle spent a lot of time writing her diary and notes for the book while sitting cross-legged on a mattress in her cell, as well as doing many short interviews in the visiting area at Kerobokan Prison, and says reliving much of it was often very painful. "Since the very first of this ordeal I started writing. It's been a very cathartic experience for me. I had no one to really speak with. Pen and paper became my friend, my focus, my thoughts, my escape, my relief and now it's becoming my voice.
"It hasn't been easy, it's been very emotional, going back reliving and digging up the emotions, and misplaced memories that were too painful for me to write in my journal. It's been bloody hard and frustrating and quite frankly very grim at times.
"We've been working on this book since December 2005, with sickness holding up the process on a few occasions. This nightmare has been going on for a very trying, tiring, frustratingly long time and I hope that this book brings some understanding and awareness to what's endured behind the scenes. I have to go home. This is slowly killing me; I am losing who I am. I don't want to be lonely any more. I want this heartache to be over. I want to live again."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340239 - 12/06/06 10:24 AM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby's tale becomes bestseller
25 November 2006 - thewest.com.au
Schapelle Corby's new book is this week's top seller, it is reported.
More than 17,000 copies of the book, My Story, were bought in its first eight days on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Corby's publisher, Pan Macmillan, said she wanted to use the proceeds from the book to fund her legal battle against her conviction in Indonesia.
But a spokesman for federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said any profit she made could be confiscated by the commonwealth under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the newspaper reported.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison for smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag in October 2004.
Her book was co-written by former TV producer Kathryn Bonella and is based on a series of secret interviews Bonella conducted with Corby inside the jail.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340247 - 12/06/06 10:26 AM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby lawyer threatens to tell all
December 06, 2006 - theaustralian.news.com
ONE of Schapelle Corby's former lawyers says he will reveal "the truth" about her drug smuggling conviction unless she backs off criticising his reputation.
Vasu Rasiah says he is willing to reveal damaging details about Corby's defence, and her plea of innocence.
"If they push us to a corner then we have no option but to reveal all the truth, and everything that took place, we will. And that will be very detrimental to her," Mr Rasiah said to the ABC's 7.30 Report.
Mr Rasiah, among others, is blamed for Corby's conviction in her book, My Story, which has sold more than 17,000 copies since its release last month.
He was a member of Corby's Indonesian legal team after her arrest in Bali in 2004 for smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison.
Mr Rasiah, who is described in the book as a money hungry bully, said his team was happy to leave the case, saying "everything was manipulated".
He said it was the Corby family that was focused on money.
Mr Rasiah also said the family knocked back an offer from the Australian Federal Police to DNA test the cannabis, to track its origin, when they learned the results would be passed on to Indonesian police.
Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose has denied such an offer was made.
But Mr Rasiah said: "We even got a couple of samples from Bali police for this testing".
It would be a positive for the defence if the cannabis was found to come from somewhere other than Corby's home state of Queensland, he said.
"And they came and said `No, (Corby's sister) Mercedes feels, please don't push this angle because it is detrimental to the case'," Mr Rasiah said.
Quoting sources close the family, the ABC also reported it had new information about Corby's movements before she entered Brisbane airport on October 8, 2004, the day she left Australia for Bali.
She met an Adelaide man, in the pre-dawn darkness, on her way to Brisbane's international airport that day, causing her to almost miss her 6am flight, the report said.
Mr Rasiah, who named Mercedes Corby as the key organiser of Schapelle's defence, said he would have more to say about the case if the attacks on his reputation didn't stop.
``If they push us too hard, we will tell the whole world what exactly took place and how it all went about,'' Mr Rasiah said.
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,572
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 13 hours, 8 minutes
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340570 - 12/06/06 12:23 PM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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Hm. Who to believe?
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Corby's sister slams tell-all 'source'
December 07, 2006 - news.com.au
A FORMER member of Schapelle Corby's legal team who is threatening to tell "the truth" about her drug smuggling conviction can't be trusted, Corby's sister Mercedes says.
Vasu Rasiah is angry about an attack on his reputation in Corby's book, My Story, in which he is described as a money-hungry bully.
Mr Rasiah says he is willing to reveal damaging details about Corby's defence, and her plea of innocence, unless she backs off.
“If they push us to a corner then we have no option but to reveal all the truth, and everything that took place, we will. And that will be very detrimental to her,” Mr Rasiah told ABC television last night.
Mercedes Corby, speaking from her Gold Coast home early today, said Mr Rasiah is not a lawyer and he has threatened the family before.
She said his claims are untrue.
“He can't be trusted ... he is obviously lashing out because he does not like what is in the book,” Mercedes said.
“He can't handle the truth. Schapelle is innocent.”
Mr Rasiah was a member of Corby's Indonesian legal team after her arrest in Bali in 2004 with 4.1kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20 year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison.
Mr Rasiah said Mercedes was instrumental in the family refusing an offer from the Australian Federal Police to DNA test the cannabis, to track its origin, when they learned the results would be passed on to Indonesian police.
Mr Rasiah told the ABC: “We even got a couple of samples from Bali police for this testing”.
But Mercedes rejected that, saying Schapelle signed her consent for the tests but the Indonesian police refused to release samples.
And she said claims in the ABC report that Schapelle stopped to meet an Adelaide man on her way to Brisbane airport were “just crap”.
“There was mum driving, Schapelle, James, Ally and Katrina in the car, they did not stop,” Mercedes said.
Quoting sources close to the family, the ABC reported it had new information about Corby's movements before she entered Brisbane airport on October 8, 2004, the day she left Australia for Bali.
She met an Adelaide man, in the pre-dawn darkness, on her way to Brisbane's international airport that day, causing her to almost miss her 6am flight, the report said.
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uber_aj
Monkey with a mind
Registered: 11/13/05
Posts: 4,243
Loc: Sea Lab
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340922 - 12/06/06 01:58 PM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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i just read this whole thing, i was totally unaware of any of this previously. what utter bullshit. i will never go within 100mi of Indonesia. im so pissed off now it could ruin my day.
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Throw out your holy books and your talismans and your fear. Create your own authority and your own path; litter it with empty baggies, used contraceptives and fuzzy memories of wonderful times.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6367208 - 12/13/06 05:25 PM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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Prisoner exchange set for '07
Schapelle Corby could be included
December 14, 2006 - Daily Telegraph
A PRISONER exchange agreement between Australia and Indonesia could be finalised early next year, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said.
 The countries have been in negotiations on the exchange for some time, but differences between the two have seen the deal stalled several times.
Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said he expected the agreement to be signed in June, and then he extended it to September and again it wasn't signed.
Senator Ellison said he spoke with his Indonesian counterpart last month and expects the deal will be signed very soon.
"We're looking to settle this agreement early in the new year," the senator told Channel 9 today.
"We're very keen to proceed with it and the Indonesians are as well."
He said once the agreement is finalised the transfers will take place soon after, and prisoners like Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine could be included.
"Certainly they could be eligible, any Australian in an Indonesian prison could be eligible, providing the length of time they're serving and there will be other terms which will have to be met," Senator Ellison said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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The story that won't go away [Re: veggie]
#6388604 - 12/19/06 09:56 PM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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December 20, 2006 - Jakarta Post
Erwin Siregar
Much-traveled Bali lawyer Erwin Siregar is about to take his wife and children to Japan for their Christmas holiday.
On his return in January he hopes he'll be flying again, this time to Australia in the company of drug-runner Schapelle Corby.
The 29 year old is currently a guest of the Republic for the next two decades; address Kerobokan prison, known to Australians as Hotel K.
Erwin already imagines the scene: Walking into the airport lounge, TV crews everywhere jostling for interviews, cheering crowds of diehard supporters.
By his side the famous/infamous Gold Coast brunette flashing her baby blues, her decolletage jail-chic, radiant with her new-found freedom.
Then maybe the white knight will get some of the US$120,000 (Rp 1 billion) he claims he's owed for defending the former beauty therapist.
It's an appealing fantasy. Literally, for its fulfillment depends entirely on the success of Erwin's latest bid to prove that Corby did not wittingly import 4.1 kilograms of marijuana through Bali's Ngurah Rai airport in October 2004.
This extraordinary appeal is being made to the Supreme Court in Jakarta and it is basically a review of the published evidence and judgment. It will not require the appearance of either Corby or her lawyer, though he or his staff may be in the capital to keep an eye on things.
It's not the first attempt. One got her term knocked down to 15 years -- another had the 20-year sentence reinstated.
Erwin said one of three results could be expected: Corby's 20-year sentence would stand, or it would be reduced, or she'd be acquitted. Although the prosecution is opposing the appeal, Erwin said a higher sentence could not be imposed.
Like any good defense lawyer he says he's optimistic. "One day justice will come," he said in his modest Denpasar office. "Maybe next month.
"Till today I still think she is not guilty. I see it in her body language, in her eyes. I've been a lawyer since 1981. I have handled maybe 200 drug cases in that time. There are so many reasonable doubts in this case.
"I think only crazy people would bring expensive marijuana from Australia to Indonesia where it's cheap. She's not a drug user -- blood and urine samples prove that. She has no record in Australia."
Erwin then rapidly ripped apart what he claims are the flaws in the prosecution and court decisions, and the grounds of the challenges.
If you've followed this seemingly endless Australian tear-jerker that tends to leave Indonesians cold, you'd know the appeal points are not new: The police didn't take fingerprints.
Her luggage wasn't weighed on arrival in Bali then compared against the check-in weight in Australia; this might have shown that the drugs could have been added to her boogie bag by back-scenes airport staff.
Then there's the court's refusal to use teleconferencing facilities so an alleged witness in Australia -- apparently too frightened to fly to Indonesia -- can claim the drugs were his.
Erwin is too savvy to hard-prose his criticisms of the courts that have so far found his arguments spectacularly unimpressive.
Instead, he put his hands over his ears, then over his eyes, indicating that maybe the learned judges didn't quite catch the points being made by the defense.
A day before talking to The Jakarta Post two complimentary copies of Corby's just-released biography, My Story, co-authored by Kathryn Bonella, were delivered to Erwin, courtesy of the prisoner.
One was for him, the other for his expert witness in the earlier failed High Court appeal, law professor Indriyanto Seno Adji. The inscription "Be Positive" included a hand drawn "Smiley".
Displaying the usual loser's response, Corby's book is not kind to her defense team that she sacked after the verdict. There was lawyer Lily Lubis, Vasudevan Rasiah and Erwin. Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who usually gets tagged "flamboyant" resigned, according to Erwin.
Rasiah has been the focus of much of Corby's wrath. Although he is often labeled "lawyer" in the Australian media, Erwin said Rasiah was not a lawyer but a "contractor".
"A week after the verdict Schapelle called me and apologized and said she wanted me to stay on the case," Erwin said.
"I replied: `I'll never leave you alone. If you don't sack me then I'll stay with you to the end.'"
In her book Corby criticizes Lubis, claiming she was constantly crying and didn't have the skills to mount a vigorous defense. Erwin agreed his legal colleague had limited experience and had not pushed the point about alleged weight discrepancies.
But he refused to comment on her performance, saying he had seen her cry only once when the first verdict was announced. He said Lubis brought him into the case 60 days after Corby was arrested because of his experience.
Corby's book is reported to be selling well with 17,000 copies jumping off the shelves in the first week. If normal author's royalty conditions apply Corby and Bonella should share 10 percent of the retail price, currently around A$30 (Rp 200,000).
Publisher Pan Macmillan claims Corby wants to use the proceeds to pay for her defense. Erwin made some quick calculations and reckoned that even if sales stay good she wouldn't have enough to clear her debts.
However, if she loses the extraordinary appeal and retains her convict status neither she nor Erwin will see any royalties. The Australian government will seize it all because that country has laws banning criminals profiting from ill-gotten gains.
In her book Corby claims that AUD $80,000 (Rp 560 million) has been spent on her legal fees. Erwin said he's received only US $3,000 (Rp 27 million) from Rasiah. If Corby and her supporters can't find the cash Erwin reckons the Australian government should pay. He's already sent a bill but this has just been rejected.
"So far I've been doing this for humanitarian reasons," he said. "I'm a Christian; my wife is a Sunday school teacher.
"I come from a poor family in Sumatra. I went to high school in Surabaya but didn't have enough money to study law.
"So I came to Bali and worked on the beach and as an illegal tour guide to get enough cash to put me through university.
"I see Schapelle maybe every two weeks or so. I think she likes me very much. We talk about religion, life, the law. Are her spirits still high? Yes. Till now."
And what happens if the extraordinary appeal fails? "We can appeal again if there's new information from a reliable witness."
Whatever the verdict, one thing is certain: This story still has "legs".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Schapelle Corby sentence cut [Re: veggie]
#6402703 - 12/25/06 01:54 AM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby sentence cut
December 25, 2006 - news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN drug convicts Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence have each had one month cut from their sentences by the Indonesian government.
The pair are each serving 20 years - Corby for smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali and Lawrence for trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.
The reduction was announced at Kerobokan prison, where the ministry of human rights and justice decrees were stuck onto the walls.
Prison governor Ilham Djaya said they both deserved remission because they had behaved well and, as prisoners, it was their right.
Lawrence is the only member of the Bali Nine to get remission.
Her fellow drug smugglers are not eligible because they are serving life terms or are sentenced to death.
Djaya said that although Corby had served longer than Lawrence, they both received the same reduction because regulations allow prisoners who have served between one to two years to get a maximum remission of one month.
Corby is due for release in July 2024 while Lawrence's sentence runs until July 2025.
Lawrence has accepted her sentence while Corby is still appealing her conviction.
Remission for prisoners in Indonesia is granted twice a year: every independence day in August and on holy days according to the convict's religion.
The Indonesian and Australian government is drafting a prisoner exchange program. It was due to have been signed this month but was postponed until next year.
If the agreement is signed, the prisoners can serve their sentence in their own country.
[veggie: To have Schapelle's 20 year sentence cut by just one month is totally absurd. Don't for a moment think this represents any compassion of the Indonesian government. If anything, this is an outright insult especially coming on the heels of the recent overturning of the conviction of Abu Bakar Bashir, the leader of the Islamic terrorist organization responsible for the 2002 bombing in the Bali tourist district in which 202 people were killed, 164 foreigners - 88 of whom were Australian.]
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby sentence cut [Re: veggie]
#6407545 - 12/29/06 08:51 AM (5 years, 4 months ago) |
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Indonesia rejects prisoner exchange draft
December 29, 2006 - news.com.au
The Australian proposed draft for a prisoner exchange agreement – obtained by news agency AAP – would allow a judicial review of a convict's case in their home country and, possibly, allow their sentences to be reduced.
"The continuance of (their) punishment... after the transfer will be regulated by the law and procedure in the recipient country," the draft states.
"And if the basic nature of the punishment and the term is not suitable with the recipient party then the recipient can adjust the punishment to its own regulation for similar crime."
Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail for trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali, but this week was given a one-month remission.
Members of the Bali Nine group were given various sentences ranging from 20 years in jail to the death penalty for trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
Indonesian prisoners who could be eligible for transfer include dozens of fishermen convicted of poaching in Australian waters.
But sources at the Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said they had rejected the Australian draft.
"The basic principle of this agreement is to make the prisoners closer with their homeland and families, but we don't want the case to be reviewed again," the ministry said.
The draft states an Australian convicted to between one year and life in jail could seek to finish the rest of their term in their home country.
The two countries have not agreed on how much of their term a prisoner must serve before applying.
The draft says that a full record of the convict's judicial process must be included in any application.
Both sides have been hinting that differences between them may be overcome soon.
Earlier this month, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he expected the agreement to be signed early next year.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison's plan to visit Indonesia in mid-December was delayed and Indonesian Government sources said both countries have not met to discuss the specific articles in the draft.
The original plan was to sign the agreement in September, when Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaludin visited Canberra.
Points of difference between the two countries include:
AUSTRALIA would give parole to a prisoner for good behaviour at the end of the punishment, while Indonesia uses remission to cut a jail term.
THE application, which must come from the prisoner or their close relatives, must be agreed to by the transferring country and the recipient country. For Australia, this is the Attorney-General; the Indonesians have not decided yet because relevant authority is split between the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General.
THE draft also says a person sentenced to home detention in Indonesia could apply for a transfer.
Indonesia and Australia signed a security agreement in November, committing to protect each other's border from separatist movements.
That agreement was signed after Australia granted asylum to 42 Indonesian Papuans earlier this year.
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