Future for Bali Nine members remains uncertain as good news arrives for Corby - Brisbane Times
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Inside Kerobokan prison on national day
In the infamous Indonesian prison on Saturday there was dancing, music, and sentence reductions. Michael Bachelard reports on some of our Australian prisoners from inside Kerobokan.
Four of the Bali Nine drug smugglers have been devastated by the news that their applications for a reduction in sentence from life imprisonment to 20 years may have been rejected.
Martin Stephens and Matthew Norman both told Fairfax Media inside Kerobokan prison on Saturday that they had been told their application had been either rejected or delayed for months.
We've been here nine years already, you know, something has got to happen.
But in another indication that Schapelle Corby's parole application is close, Fairfax Media has learned that her sister, Mercedes, has been making inquiries about the payment of the $11,000 penalty attached to the sentence.
Frustrated and waiting: Martin Stephens, pictured at Kerobokan on Friday, is among four of the Bali Nine drug smugglers who are unsure if their applications for a reduction in their life sentences have been rejected. Photo: Michael Bachelard
Prison sentences in Indonesia often carry a financial penalty as well, and failing to pay it would translate into an extra six months in prison for Corby.
Corby has cleared a number of other administrative barriers recently, and an agency of the Indonesian correction system has confirmed that, after inspection, Mercedes' Bali home is suitable for Ms Corby to live in while serving out her sentence on parole.
Kerobokan was opened to the media to watch prisoners perform in Indonesian National Day celebrations in Bali on Friday. After the celebration, prison authorities confirmed that Ms Corby had been recommended for a six-month reprieve from her sentence for good behaviour.
Recommended for sentence cut: Bali Nine member Renae Lawrence at Indonesian National Day celebrations in Kerobokan on Friday. Photo: Michael Bachelard
A large backlog of recommendations in the Director General of Corrections in Jakarta means the cut has not yet been confirmed, but it's expected to be within months.
Corby did not attend the function.
A male prisoner said Corby was now so paranoid about the media that she refused to leave her cell, even to take out the rubbish, in case a journalist was watching or a fellow prisoner snapped a photo and tried to sell it.
Recommended for parole: Schapelle Corby could be released from Kerobokan jail to live with her sister Mercedes in Bali. Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP
She only left her cell for consular visits and visits from her sister Mercedes, the prisoner said.
Bali Nine prisoner Renae Lawrence has been recommended for a six-month reduction for good behaviour and a further two months for being a prison leader, but is subject to the same delay as Corby in having it confirmed.
But Bali Nine members Stephens, Norman, Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen face spending the rest of their lives in the jail if they cannot have their sentences reduced.
Kerobokan was opened to the media to watch prisoners perform in Indonesian National Day celebrations on Friday. Photo: Michael Bachelard
The Australian consulate in Bali has informed them that their applications have not been approved.
It's unclear if they are the victim of the same backlog of cases in Jakarta, or if it's an outright rejection.
Norman said he had retained lawyers to try to find out. Stephens expressed his extreme frustration — the application has been rejected twice already.
Renae Lawrence on Friday. Photo: Michael Bachelard
"We've been here nine years already, you know, something has got to happen," he said.
"Renae [Lawrence] gets her remission, Corby gets her remission, and just none of us on life and death gets remission or reduction.
"There is a chance it will still happen. I have faith in the Indonesian government and the Australian government, and I'm sure they're doing the best they can. It gets difficult sometimes but you've just got to roll with the punches, I suppose."
According to Matthew Norman: "I've tried my hardest to do everything the jail asks. I've set up programs, organised sponsorship … I don't get a cent out of it or any privileges, and I'd be devastated if it was all for nothing again."
via bali - Google News www.brisbanetimes. com. au/world/future-for-bali-nine-members-remains-uncertain-as-good-news-arrives-for-corby-20130817-2s349.html
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