Pubdate: Thu, 29 Sep 2005
Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005 New Zealand Herald
Contact:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300
Author: AAP
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

BALI NINE 'DO NOT NEED AUSTRALIAN POLICE HELP'

JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities say they won't need Australian 
police officers to testify in court to get the Bali Nine before a firing squad.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today withdrew cooperation in the 
case, saying it was standing Australian policy not to assist in 
foreign death penalty cases.

Indonesian police arrested the nine in Bali in April after a tip-off 
from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Bali drug squad chief Colonel Bambang Sugiarto said testimony from 
AFP officers would not be required in court.

"No problem ... their statements are not important according to the 
law," he said.

Indonesian prosecutors yesterday handed over case files to the 
Denpasar District Court, clearing the way for seven trials to begin next month.

The files contain evidence gathered by AFP agents against the eight 
men and one woman who all face drug charges that carry the death penalty.

But Mr Ruddock said: "we will not provide cooperation in relation to 
criminal matters unless there is an assurance that a death penalty 
will not be sought".

"If there was further information that had to be obtained from here 
through the Australian Federal Police, we would seek an assurance 
that Indonesia would not be wanting a death penalty in each of those 
cases," he told reporters in Hobart.

In Perth, Justice Minister Chris Ellison later confirmed that any 
request for assistance from Indonesia would have to be made under the 
two countries' Mutual Assistance Treaty, and require the death 
penalty to be taken off the table.

"Wherever an Australian faces the death penalty, we pull out all 
stops to make a plea on their behalf for that not to be carried out," 
Senator Ellison said.

Sugiarto's assessment was backed by the prosecutor Ni Putu Indriati 
who will act in defendant Renae Lawrence's case.

"In the document there are no AFP as witnesses, only a letter from 
the AFP explaining there were Australians who wanted to export 
narcotics," she said.

She said the withholding of Australian assistance won't affect the case.

Four of the nine Australians, detained at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport 
allegedly with blocks of heroin weighing between 1.3kg and 2.9kg 
strapped to their bodies, will be tried separately.

The four are Wollongong man Martin Stephens, 29, Brisbane duo Michael 
Czugaj and Scott Rush, both 19, and 27-year-old Lawrence of Wallsend 
near Newcastle.

The so-called gang enforcer Andrew Chan, 21, of Sydney, will also be 
tried individually, as will the accused mastermind of the gang, 
Myuran Sukumaran, 24, also from Sydney.

Three others -- Brisbane man Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, and Sydney 
pair Si Yi Chen, 20, and Matthew James Norman, 18, -- who were 
arrested with Sukumaran at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta will be tried together.

The hotel raid, launched with AFP observers alongside Indonesian 
police, allegedly netted 300g of heroin divided between two small bags.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman