The Frenchman was sentenced to death by the Asian country in 2007 for drug trafficking.
Will Serge Atlaoui be able to return home? France has sent Indonesia an official request for “transfer” of his national, an Indonesian minister said this Saturday, December 28. The Frenchman was sentenced to death by the Asian country in 2007 for drug trafficking. France's request comes as Jakarta recently repatriated a Filipina also sentenced to death.
“We received an official letter requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui on December 19. The letter was sent on behalf of the French Minister of Justice. said Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia's Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The French embassy in Jakarta did not wish to comment on this announcement.
Serge Atlaoui, 61, was arrested in 2005 in a factory where drugs were discovered on the outskirts of Jakarta, with authorities accusing him of being a “chemist”. The artisan welder from Metz (north-east), father of four children, has always denied being a drug trafficker, affirming that he had only installed industrial machines in what he believed be an acrylic factory. The case caused a stir in Indonesia, where anti-drug laws are among the strictest in the world.
Capital punishment on appeal
Initially sentenced to life in prison, he saw the Supreme Court increase the sentence, condemning him to death on appeal. He was due to be executed alongside eight other convicts in 2015, but was granted a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure, with Indonesian authorities agreeing to let a pending appeal take its course. “As we are in the end-of-year holiday period, we will discuss the content of the letter at the beginning of January”added Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
A discussion “more detailed” will be carried out by officials from the ministry. Likewise, the French Ministry of Justice could also involve staff from the French embassy in Jakarta, according to Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra indicated at the end of November that France had sent a first request to Indonesia. The French Ministry of Justice then asked Jakarta to obtain a series of documents in order to prepare the official transfer request, according to a source close to the case. His French lawyer, Richard Sédillot, then indicated that “the idea that his sentence could now be commuted, and that his transfer could then be ordered, constitutes considerable hope”.
530 condemned on death row
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 two women, 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.
Furthermore, five members of the “Bali Nine” – nicknames given to these Australians arrested on the tourist island in 2005 for drug trafficking and sentenced to long prison sentences – were repatriated to their country on December 15. 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 19 years in prison, which he is currently serving.
According to the ECPM association, in addition to Serge Atlaoui, at least four French people are currently sentenced to death around the world: two men in Morocco and one in China, as well as a woman in Algeria. The last capital executions in Indonesia date back to 2016: an Indonesian and three Nigerians, still convicted of drug trafficking, were shot.
