The repatriation of Mary Jane Veloso opened a door. A few days after the announcement concerning the Philippines, France sent Indonesia an official request for the “transfer” of Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2007 for drug trafficking. “This official request punctuates almost 25 years of fighting to repatriate Serge Atlaoui to France,” reacted Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, director general of the NGO Ensemble contre la penalty de mort which has supported him since 2007.
“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, Indonesian Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights. “As we are in the end-of-year holiday period, we will discuss the content of the letter at the beginning of January,” added the minister. Contacted by AFP, the French embassy in Jakarta did not wish to comment on this announcement.
The death penalty avoided
Serge Atlaoui, aged 61, was arrested in 2005 in a factory where drugs had been discovered, in the suburbs of Jakarta, with the authorities accusing him of being a “chemist”. The artisan welder from Metz and 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 a drug factory. 'acrylic.
The affair caused a stir in Indonesia where anti-drug laws are one of the strictest in the world. 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.
France
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