Open judicial reviews to all, says top lawyer

The right to file a request for a judicial review should not be limited only to Indonesians, because equal treatment before the law is a basic human right, a lawyer said Wednesday.

Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis made the statement in revised arguments submitted to the Constitutional Court asking for the abolition of the death sentence in the 1997 Narcotics Law.

"Everyone should have the right to defend oneself," he told reporters after submitting the revised arguments.

"The Amended 1945 Constitution says everyone is equal before the law. Only narrow-minded people believe that only Indonesians have the right to ask for a judicial review," he added.

Todung is representing Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the so-called Bali Nine drug ring, who were sentenced to death by the Denpasar District Court in February 2006 for attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Australia.

Two of Todung's other clients, Indonesians Rani Andriani and Edith Y. Sianturi, received death sentences from the Tangerang District Court in August 2000 and December 2001, respectively, for trafficking heroin.

The Bali and Banten High Courts and the Supreme Court have rejected the appeals of the four convicts.

Todung held a preliminary hearing with the Constitutional Court on Feb. 1. Presiding judge Mukhtie Fajar, however, said article 51 of the 2003 Law on the Constitutional Court stipulates only Indonesians have the right to file for a judicial review.

The judge suggested that the lawyer make a request to review that article.

Under the 1997 Narcotics Law, drug traffickers can be sentenced to death, life in prison or 20 years in prison.

Todung filed for a judicial review to abolish capital punishment last month after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of the four drug traffickers.

Shortly after Todung filed the judicial review, lawyer Denny Kailimang, who represents another member of the Bali Nine, Australian Anthony Rush, also asked the Constitutional Court to review the Narcotics Law.

Todung said the death penalty should be removed from all the country's laws that carried it.

Other laws punishable by death are the Law on Corruption, the Law on Terrorism and an emergency law on the possession of firearms and explosives.

Todung said the enactment of the death sentence here violated a 1966 international convention on politics and civil rights, which Indonesia had signed, and degraded Indonesia's status as a signatory to the UN Human Rights Declaration.

He argued the death penalty did not deter crime.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate:Thur, 15 Feb 2007
Source: Jakarta Post (Indonesia -Web)
Website: http://www.thejakartapost.com/