The artisan welder from Metz, in the north-east of France, father of four children, has always denied being a drug trafficker. He has been detained since 2007.
France and Indonesia are due to sign an agreement on Friday January 24 for the transfer to Paris of Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2007 for drug trafficking, according to consistent sources. The 61-year-old Frenchman must be transferred to France on February 4, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesian Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, told AFP. Asked about the date of the transfer of the inmate, who has been on death row for 17 years, the minister replied “February 4, as required by the French government”in a message Friday.
The signing of the transfer agreement, initially scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed first to Thursday, for scheduling reasons, according to a source close to the discussions, then to Friday. The agreement must be signed on Friday at 3:00 p.m. (8:00 GMT), after confirmation from the French Minister of Justice, Yusril Ihza Mahendra told AFP on Thursday evening. “The agreement must be signed early Friday afternoon in Jakarta by Mr. Yusril and by Gérald Darmanin, French Minister of Justice, remotely from Paris, by videoconference”a source close to the negotiations told AFP.
His fate in France known on Friday
The media were invited by the Indonesian ministry to a press conference from 3:00 p.m. “following the closed-door signing of the practical agreement”. Once the agreement is signed, “It will take a few more days to sort out the final details”added this source close to the negotiations. The fate of Serge Atlaoui once he arrives on French soil could be clarified on Friday. France sent Indonesia an official transfer request on December 19, Yusril Ihza Mahendra indicated at the end of December.
Serge Atlaoui was arrested in 2005 in a factory where drugs were discovered on the outskirts of Jakarta, and the authorities accused him of being a “chemist”. The artisan welder from Metz, in the north-east of France, father of four children, has always denied being a drug trafficker, claiming that he had only installed industrial machines in what he believed to be an acrylic factory.
-The case caused a stir in Indonesia, where anti-drug laws are among the strictest in the world. Initially sentenced to life in prison, he saw the Supreme Court increase the sentence and sentence him to death on appeal. He was due to be executed alongside eight other convicts in 2015, but was granted a reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure, with Indonesian authorities agreeing to let a pending appeal take its course. Sick and transferred to Salemba prison in Jakarta, until recently he underwent treatment every week in a hospital in the capital.
Four French people sentenced to death around the world
Indonesia currently has at least 530 convicts on death row, according to rights group Kontras, citing official data. Among them, more than 90 foreigners, including at least one woman, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services. A 39-year-old Filipina, Mary Jane Veloso, arrested in 2010 and also sentenced to death for drug trafficking, was repatriated to the Philippines in mid-December, after an agreement between the two countries.
Another Frenchman, Félix Dorfin, arrested on the tourist island of Lombok, was sentenced, beyond requisitions, to the death penalty in 2019, also for drug trafficking which he has always denied. The sentence was later commuted to a 19-year prison term which he is currently serving. According to the NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), headquartered in Paris, in addition to Serge Atlaoui, at least four French people are currently sentenced to death in the world: two men in Morocco, one in China as well than a woman in Algeria.
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