Frenchman not included in upcoming batch of executions – Indonesia

Agence France-Presse

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Frenchman not included in upcoming batch of executions – Indonesia

EPA

Serge Atlaoui recently lost an appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, and his legal team have lodged a further legal bid with the State Court, but this is viewed as having little chance of success

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A Frenchman on death row in Indonesia will not be included in an upcoming batch of executions, as he still has a legal appeal outstanding, an official said Saturday, April 25.

Asked if reports were true that Serge Atlaoui, 51, would be excluded from the forthcoming batch, Tony Spontana, a spokesman for the Indonesian attorney-general, responded: “Yes, correct.”

“All embassies have been invited today to come to Cilacap except for the French because we only gather those whose citizens have finished their legal processes,” he told Agence France-Presse, adding that Atlaoui still had an appeal pending in the State Administrative Court.

Cilacap is the gateway to Nusakambangan, a prison island where the executions will be carried out.

Atlaoui recently lost an appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, and his legal team have lodged a further legal bid with the State Court, but this is viewed as having little chance of success. (READ: France summons Indonesian ambassador over citizen on death row)

Jakarta has previously said that all legal avenues have been exhausted and convicts are simply trying to buy time.

Diplomatic offensive

However France has mounted a sustained diplomatic campaign to save Atlaoui, with President Francois Hollande on Saturday warning Jakarta there will be “diplomatic consequences” if he is put to death.

Earlier Saturday, two Australians and Filipina Mary Jane Veloso were officially notified by Indonesia they will be executed. (READ: Mary Jane told of execution date: Tuesday, April 28)

The Australians are Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the “Bali Nine” heroin trafficking gang, and mother-of-two Mary Jane Veloso.

The fate of the other convicts in the group, including a Brazilian and 4 Africans facing execution, was not immediately clear.

President Aquino, speak up urgently

Hearing this, lawyer Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) which has been helping Veloso, said “We’re not giving up because it’s not yet over. We heard the Frenchman was not included because of a pending appeal. And that is the same situation Mary Jane is in.”

When they filed their second appeal on Friday, April 24, Olalia said they were told by the prosecutor of Yogyakarta they “did not have official notice” of it.

“This increases pressure on [President Benigno] Aquino [III] to speak up urgently. We appeal to President Jokowi to give us one last chance. That’s all we ask.” – with a report from Jet Damazo/Rappler.com

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