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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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'Bali Nine" sentencing begins
#5293974 - 02/13/06 08:19 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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No mercy as Bali pair learns grim fate February 14, 2006 - news.com.au
THE fate of the Bali Nine heroin smugglers has come down to either the firing squad or death in jail after a court yesterday ignored mercy pleas from Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush.
The drug mules were sentenced to life in an Indonesian jail for their roles in what a Bali court said was a secretive and international drug network.
Disregarding prosecutors' calls that Lawrence get only a 20-year sentence, the judges said her actions were not deserving of leniency. Nor, they said, were 20-year-old Brisbane man Scott Rush's crimes.
The decisions, the first in the Bali Nine trials, send a strong signal about today's verdicts.
Prosecutors have called for the two ringleaders to be sentenced to death.
Clearly shocked, Lawrence, 28, glared at her lawyers in court and later sobbed in the court holding cells where female prisoners came to her aid.
When her lawyer came to the cell bars, Lawrence, 28, was furious, questioning her decision to co-operate with authorities.
"You told me my sentence would be going down," she said. Lawrence's lawyer, Anggia Browne, was also shocked, saying that the complaints from lawyers for the other three mules about the leniency of the 20-year demand had contributed to her client's sentence.
Soon after the judges sentenced Rush to life in jail, his parents, Lee and Christine, hit out at the Australian Federal Police's role in tipping off the Indonesians to the presence of the nine young Australians.
Both Lawrence and Rush were found guilty of the primary charge of exporting narcotics as part of an organised conspiracy for which death is the penalty.
The judges disregarded their claims of having been threatened with death if they failed to carry the drugs, saying there was no detailed evidence to prove the threats were true and that these should therefore be disregarded.
Judge I Gusti Ngurah Astawa said that if Lawrence had been successful in exporting the drugs there would have been many victims and her actions were dangerous. Mitigating factors included the fact that Lawrence was still young and had been polite and co-operative with the court.
Outside court, Ms Browne said the defence would appeal. Lawrence's father, Bob, said his daughter was devastated. "She didn't expect that and we didn't either," he said.
"She is angry and upset. She co-operated as best she could to give evidence and everything else and now she has not done any good out of it at all," he said.
"Our thoughts go out to the other members of the Bali Nine.
"In accepting Renae's sentence, we now turn to the future and it is our hope that Renae as well as the other members of the Bali Nine can serve out part of their time in Australia, closer to us at home."
Rush, meanwhile, told the judges he would appeal.
Four verdicts will be delivered today - for the two alleged ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and two more of the mules, Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj.
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Lana
Head Banana


Registered: 10/27/99
Posts: 3,109
Loc: www.MycoSupply.com
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5295162 - 02/13/06 02:48 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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"...were 20-year-old Brisbane man Scott Rush's crimes.
Clearly shocked, Lawrence, 28, glared at her lawyers in court and later sobbed in the court holding cells where female prisoners came to her aid."
Not even 30 years old and they're either going to die or spend a life in jail.
Sad...
Lana
-------------------- Myco Supply - Distributors of Mycological Products http://www.MycoSupply.com The Premiere Source for Mushroom Growing Supplies. Visit us online or call us toll free
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Koala Koolio
TTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGG

Registered: 01/07/04
Posts: 7,752
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: Lana]
#5295588 - 02/13/06 04:04 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Fuck cultural relativism. These people enforcing this need machineguns to the face more than our own leaders.
-------------------- You're not like the others. You like the same things I do. Wax paper, boiled football leather... dog breath. We're not hitch-hiking anymore, we're riding!
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5297347 - 02/13/06 10:26 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Bali Nine's Chan gets death Febreuary 14, 2006 - news.com.au
THE Bali Nine's "godfather" Andrew Chan was today condemned to death by firing squad for trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
The Denpasar District Court erupted with shouts from the public gallery as its three-judge panel announced its verdict of "hukuman mati" or death penalty. Chan appeared to take the news of his fate calmly as he sat beside a court translator.
He shook hands with his lawyers briefly before being led out by police from the packed courtroom and through a scrum of reporters and cameramen.
Chan is the first of the Bali Nine to receive the death penalty.
Prosecutors had called for his execution, saying he had been the ringleader of an international drug operation.
The trial's Chief Judge Arief Supartman read a handwritten judgment from the bench, saying Chan had been proven guilty of "exporting heroin in an organised ring and possessing a prohibited class one narcotic".
He said Chan had "damaged Bali's international reputation".
He also castigated Chan for not co-operating with Indonesian authorities and for refusing to answer questions during his trial.
"The defendant did not show any remorse during his trial and was evasive.
"There are no grounds for leniency."
Immediately after the verdict was pronounced uproar erupted with a group of anti-drugs campaigners cheering in the courtroom.
"Well done chief judge," said some, while others shouted out "Death!"
Chan was later locked in a holding cell at the rear of the court where he was seen smiling and smoking a cigarette as he talked through the bars with his brother Michael.
Minutes after Chan's verdict came down, another panel of judges convened to announced their verdict against Myuran Sukumaran, who is also expected to be condemned to death.
Prosecutors have said that Sukumaran had been Chan's right-hand man.
Earlier Bali Nine drug mule Michael Czugaj was sentenced to life in prison.
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 passive 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.
Czugaj was arrested at Bali airport with 1.75kg of heroin strapped to his body in three bags.
The sentence against Czugaj was in line with the demands of Indonesian prosecutors.
Yesterday, fellow mules Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush were also jailed for life.
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5298419 - 02/14/06 08:39 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Bali Nine ringleaders condemned to death February 14, 2006 theage.com.au
The Bali Nine's two ringleaders were condemned to death by firing squad and another two defendants jailed for life by Indonesian judges.
The accused took the news calmly and some of their families sobbed as the verdicts were handed down.
Anti-drugs campaigners cheered in the court while the Australian government sombrely said it would ask for clemency for condemned Sydney men Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 24.
The Denpasar District Court also sentenced drug mules Michael Czugaj, 20, of Brisbane, and Martin Stephens, 29, of Wollongong, to life terms in line with sentences handed down on Monday against Renae Lawrence, 28, of Newcastle, and Scott Rush, 20, of Brisbane.
The Bali Nine trials end on Wednesday when three final defendants are also expected to get life.
All nine were arrested on April 17 last year in raids at Bali's airport and a hotel that netted 8.3kg of heroin bound for Australia.
Prime Minister John Howard reacted to Tuesday's death sentences by begging young Australians to stay away from drugs in Asia, saying he had no power to change tough anti-narcotic laws in other countries.
"Can I just say to every young Australian, please take notice of this, I even beg them not to take the terrible risks that these young people have done, their lives destroyed in the case of two people," he told reporters.
The prime minister also defended the role the Australian Federal Police played in the capture of the Bali Nine by tipping off Indonesian authorities.
Appeals must be filed with the Bali High Court within a week.
Further appeals could be made later to the Supreme Court and ultimately Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - himself an anti-drugs campaigner - could commute the death sentences.
An expert in international law said if the appeal process got bogged down in technicalities, Chan and Sukumaran could stay on Indonesia's death row for years.
Alternatively, things might move ominously fast.
"We could be looking at as little as two to three months. There is a record of executions in Indonesia being carried out expeditiously," said University of Sydney Professor Donald Rothwell.
There were chaotic scenes as Bali Nine "godfather" Andrew Chan and his "enforcer" Myuran Sukumaran arrived to a huge media crush outside the Denpasar District Court.
Martial arts expert Sukumaran quickly became incensed in the sweltering crush, hurling a water bottle missile and punching a camera into a photographer's head.
Chan stumbled on a drainage ditch and was almost pulled to the ground until police hauled him up by the armpits and dragged him to court through a side entrance.
As they were led handcuffed from a prison van, protesters carrying banners demanding the pair be "sent to hell" hurled abuse.
Inside the court the mood turned icy calm until judges handed the two ringleaders the first death sentences for narcotics ever handed down by a Bali court.
The small clutch of demonstrators broke into applause and cheered, shouting "death" and "well done chief judge" as Chan and later Sukumaran were led away.
In a second court, former Wollongong barman Martin Stephens and window cleaner Michael Czugaj - two of the mules Chan allegedly threatened with death if they refused to carry more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, were sentenced to life in jail.
Chan showed little emotion as Judge Arief Supratman read out his verdict from a handwritten statement.
He only nodded to his translator, before being led back to a cell where he joked with brother Michael before sharing a bottle of water with the brooding Sukumaran.
Arief said Chan was guilty of both exporting and possessing heroin on an island which was "the blooming flower of the world", and had shown no regret, refusing to testify or answer questions.
"The defendant didn't show any remorse and was evasive. Leniency: nothing," he said.
The story was the same for London-born Sukumaran who watched protesters hang a banner demanding his death before standing blinking as his verdict was read out.
"There are no reasons for justifying or forgiving the actions of the defendant," chief judge I Gusti Lanang Dauh said.
The lawyer for both Chan and Sukumaran, Rifan Mohamad, said he was bitterly disappointed with the verdicts and hinted he believed the trials had been unfair.
"We only got one week (to prepare)," he said.
"It is a big surprise for us. Our legal team will advise our clients to appeal."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer raised Australia's opposition to capital punishment with Indonesia's Attorney-General Abdulrahman Saleh on December 18.
In a separate court, Stephens and Czugaj appeared before the same judges who handed life terms to Lawrence and Rush.
Stephens, in a waistcoat, was uncomprehending as the court dismissed claims from the four mules that they were threatened with death to ensure they did not try to flee.
The statements held "no weight", the judges said.
"Martin said to me, 'What was the point in even holding a trial? Why didn't they just put us all in one case'," lawyer Wirawan Adnan recounted.
"'It would have saved them money because they haven't treated us as individual cases'."
"It's not over yet," Stephens' mother Michele said. "It's still in the hands of God."
But the tears flowed freely for Czugaj, as older sister Melanie, sitting between divorced parents Vicki and Stephan, sat sobbing in her mother's arms.
Pinching her nose, Vicki held back tears in court, but let them roll down her cheeks as she kissed and hugged her son through the cell bars.
"I know we expected it but it's still a shock," she told AAP.
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chodamunky
Cheers!

Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5299858 - 02/14/06 04:24 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Martial arts expert Sukumaran quickly became incensed in the sweltering crush, hurling a water bottle missile and punching a camera into a photographer's head.
lol
As they were led handcuffed from a prison van, protesters carrying banners demanding the pair be "sent to hell" hurled abuse
wtf is wrong with these people? I have a feeling if the judge didn't sentence the way he did then riots would break outside the court. These people are sick, bloodthirsty, and spineless, yet more vulgar and morally stiffer than a big purple vain dick penetrating a..... well I'll just leave it at that....
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CUBErt
Connoisseur ofHallucination


Registered: 08/24/05
Posts: 1,067
Loc: Southern CA
Last seen: 14 years, 3 months
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: chodamunky]
#5301134 - 02/14/06 10:08 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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You know, as much as I don't like alot of American foreign policy, I wouldnt mind Bush dropping a few bombs on Indonesia before he's out for good. Their government (and, as it seems, some of their general population) is as savage and deserving of punishment as any "terrorist regime" we have thus far targetted. Of course, our leaders seem to be on the same page when it comes to drug policy
-------------------- -CUBErt
 
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CUBErt
Connoisseur ofHallucination


Registered: 08/24/05
Posts: 1,067
Loc: Southern CA
Last seen: 14 years, 3 months
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: CUBErt]
#5301179 - 02/14/06 10:19 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
He said Chan had "damaged Bali's international reputation".
And yet sentencing a man to death (not to mention, in an inhumane way) who never killed anyone but simply supplied a substance that, when used irresponsibly could lead to death... yes, that doesn't damage your reputation at all. I don't know why this affects me so much, but I seriously feel sick after reading those articles. It seems like there's very few places to turn in the world where people have their fucking priorities in order. In the U.S., a child molester will often get a more lenient sentence than a drug dealer...a fucking child molester.And in Bali if you deal drugs, you get killed by a firing squad? Where did we go so wrong? I'm sorry for the rant, I'd better just stop because I am getting too upset
-------------------- -CUBErt
 
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5301232 - 02/14/06 10:35 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Final Bali Nine trio sentenced to life February 15, 2006- heraldsun.news.com.au
THE final three members of the Bali Nine were sentenced to life imprisonment by an Indonesian court today.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, of Brisbane, and Sydney men Si Yi Chen, 20, and Matthew Norman, 19, were found guilty of being part of an operation to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia last April.
Today's sentences means seven Bali Nine members now have been sentenced to life terms with the two ringleaders ? Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran ? condemned to be executed by a firing squad.
The trio in court today were arrested at the Melasti Hotel at Kuta Beach on the night of April 17 when other members of the gang were being nabbed at Bali Airport with heroin strapped to their bodies as they waited for a Sydney-bound flight.
At the hotel room, police said they had found a small quantity of drugs, plus materials and equipment they claimed would have been used to prepare another shipment of drugs. ? AAP
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Boom
just a tester

Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,252
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5301554 - 02/14/06 11:54 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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It's terrible. It's tragic, they are all so young..
but fuck, Indonesia is known for being super-insane about drugs. There are signs all over the airport warning potential smugglers. It sucks, but hey, you gotta play by their rules. No matter how much you disagree, if you get caught, you can't act like you weren't warned.
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: 'Bali Nine" sentencing begins [Re: veggie]
#5322645 - 02/21/06 12:17 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Bali nine all lodge appeals February 20, 2006 - abc.net.au
Eight more members of the Bali nine have lodged appeals against their sentences for heroin trafficking, which were handed down last week.
Renae Lawrence, who received a life sentence, filed her appeal last Friday.
The ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, are on death row.
Matthew Norman and Si Yi Chen from Sydney, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Michael Czugaj and Scott Rush from Brisbane, and Martin Stephens from Wollongong, were all jailed for life.
The nine were found guilty of attempting to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia.
The appeals process is risky; Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby recently saw her original 20-year sentence reinstated after it had been reduced to 15 years.
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