Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, supports the Government's attempt to help free Schapelle Corby, but says more detail is needed on how the pledge would work.
AUSTRALIA will offer an "official guarantee" to Indonesia that Schapelle Corby will meet her parole conditions in a breakthrough that officials hope will see her released from jail in Bali.
For the first time, Australia has offered to guarantee that Corby will not flee Indonesia during her parole and that she will comply with any regulation determined.
She is also likely to be required to undergo regular drug testing by Indonesian authorities as a condition of her parole application. Corby, 35, still faces years in Indonesia even if she is granted parole, because she would be required to serve out her sentence in Bali.
However, she could be finally freed from jail after 8 1/2 years of incarceration, to live with her sister Mercedes Corby or placed in an immigration detention centre.
Australia has no prison transfer agreement in place that would allow Corby to return to Australia to serve out her sentence.
Australia's formal letter of guarantee was delivered by the Australian Consulate to the governor's office at Kerobokan prison yesterday and follows weeks of preparation.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr stressed the letter of guarantee would not automatically lead to parole but confirmed it was a breakthrough as officials attempt to navigate a range of barriers to her release, including her lack of a valid passport and legal barriers to granting a visa to a convicted drug offender.
"This letter of guarantee - backed by strict reporting requirements - is necessary in order for the parole application to proceed," Senator Carr said.
"We cannot influence their final decision which will be made on its merits.
"However, most Australians would agree she has served a substantial term in jail and deserves the chance to plead her case before parole authorities. Her 20-year (sentence of) imprisonment is a warning to anyone thinking of involving themselves in illegal activities overseas."
Australia would issue Corby with a new passport but offer it to Indonesia for safekeeping while she serves her parole.
Schapelle Corby gets regular visits from her sisters Mercedes and Maleane. Source: The Sunday Telegraph
To ensure Indonesia's parole conditions are met, Australian officials will ensure Corby regularly reports to Australian consular officials in Bali.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said it wasn't clear how the government could guarantee the behaviour of an individual overseas.
''I don't understand the nature of the guarantee, that's not been made clear,'' she told Network Ten today.
But she supported the government move.
''It is appropriate that the government seek to pursue an opportunity for Schapelle Corby to secure parole,'' Ms Bishop said.
With remissions, Corby has now served two-thirds of her sentence and is eligible for parole but would need to remain in Bali until January 22, 2017, unless her sentence was cut further.
Those hopes were set back last week when she was criticised by the jail governor for refusing to attend a mandatory address on the jail's "zero mobile phones, zero bribes, and zero drugs" policy.
After 8½ years in jail, Corby continues to protest her innocence.
She has languished in the Bali jail system since she was apprehended at the Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar, in 2004, with 4.2kg of cannabis in an unlocked boogie board case. Corby was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2005.
That sentence was reduced to 15 years in 2005, before the original 20-year sentence was reinstated by the Indonesian Supreme Court in 2006.
If Ms Corby is released from jail, it will be a Bali first. While 16 foreigners have been paroled in Indonesia, none have successfully been granted parole in Bali.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Aussie guarantee to set Schapelle free
Dengan url
http://duniasikasik.blogspot.com/2013/03/aussie-guarantee-to-set-schapelle-free.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Aussie guarantee to set Schapelle free
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Aussie guarantee to set Schapelle free
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar