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Flawed trials lead to deaths of innocent people, Indonesia told

Catholics and rights groups urge country to reconsider death penalty
Flawed trials lead to deaths of innocent people, Indonesia told

Supporters of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran participate in a candlelight vigil in Sydney in April. The Australians were later executed by Indonesian authorities. (Photo by Saeed Khan/AFP)

Published: October 16, 2015 09:19 AM GMT
Updated: October 15, 2015 11:17 PM GMT

Unfair trials could lead to the execution of innocent death row inmates, Catholic officials in Indonesia have warned, in another criticism of the Southeast Asian nation's controversial use of the death penalty.

Father Paulus Christian Siswantoko, secretary of the Indonesian bishops' justice and peace commission, told ucanews.com in an interview that the country's flawed judicial process could see innocent people killed.

"The state is too excited about implementing the death penalty," Father Siswantoko told ucanews.com Oct. 16.

"If there are still manipulative practices in the trial processes, it may lead to killing people who are in fact innocent."

He urged the government to reevaluate its use of the death penalty.

International media have focused a spotlight on Indonesia's death penalty this year, after the country executed a total of 14 Indonesian and foreign nationals for drug crimes. Among them were Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two Australians convicted for their roles in the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling operations.

Mary Jane Veloso, a Catholic Philippine woman, was originally scheduled to be executed along with the pair, but was granted a last-minute reprieve after pleas from her government. Her case is still pending.

Father Siswantoko said rather than executing people for drug crimes, the government should try to save the younger generation from using drugs in the first place.

"The government authorities don't need to kill people," he said. "They don't need to shed blood."

On Oct. 15, Amnesty International, the London-based rights group, issued a report examining unfair trials and the death penalty in Indonesia, calling it "flawed justice."

The report urged the country to place a moratorium on executions as a first step toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty.

In a press conference, Josef Benedict, Amnesty's campaign director in Southeast Asia, said it may be understandable that Indonesian authorities want to punish criminals and provide a deterrent.

"But there is no evidence showing that the death penalty can give a better deterrent effect than other forms of punishment," he said.

 

Future plans

Using government data, Amnesty noted there were at least 121 prisoners currently facing the death penalty in Indonesia. These included 54 people convicted of drug offenses, two on terrorism charges and 65 people convicted of murder.

After two rounds of executions in the preceding months, Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo told media in September that authorities have not decided on a new date for executions.

Father Paulus Rahmat of the nongovernmental group Vivat International Indonesia told ucanews.com that the death penalty ignores two vital points: hope and rehabilitation.

"Hope is about the future of every individual, and rehabilitation is about the improvement of the past," he said.

All forms of punishments, he said, should respect these values. "But in the death penalty, these aspects are ignored."

Eveline Winarko of the Community of Sant'Egidio in Jakarta said that the community takes an active role in urging the government to abolish the death penalty.

"The right to life is in the hand of God," she said. "That's why we keep rejecting the death penalty."

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