France has officially requested Indonesia to repatriate Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman sentenced to death in this country in 2007 for drug trafficking, Yusril Ihza Mahendra reported to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, November 29. , Indonesian Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights. “The French embassy delivered a letter from the French Minister of Justice to his Indonesian counterpart, dated November 4, containing a request for the transfer of the French prisoner named Serge Atlaoui”said Mr. Yusril. Contacted by AFP, the embassy did not react immediately.
Serge Atlaoui, aged 60, was arrested in 2005 in a factory where drugs were discovered near Jakarta, with authorities accusing him of being a “chemist”. The artisan welder from Metz, 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 case caused a stir in Indonesia, where anti-drug laws are among the strictest in the world. Initially sentenced to life in prison, Serge Atlaoui saw the country’s Supreme Court increase the sentence, sentencing him to the death penalty 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.
Reread our 2015 archive | Article reserved for our subscribers The appeal of Frenchman Serge Atlaoui rejected by the Indonesian courts
Read later
Discussions with three countries
Mr. Atlaoui was long detained on the island of Nusa Kambangan, in central Java province, nicknamed “the Indonesian Alcatraz”. He was then transferred to Tangerang, a town west of Jakarta on the island of Java, in 2015.
Indonesia is currently in discussions with three countries, the Philippines, Australia and France, for the repatriation of several prisoners, Mr. Yusril explained on Thursday, adding that he hoped that these transfers could be done by has “the end of December”.
Among the prisoners is Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina sentenced to death after being arrested in Indonesia in 2010 with a suitcase containing 2.6 kilos of heroin. Last week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced that an agreement had been reached between the two countries for the return of Mme Veloso in Manila.
Reread our 2019 archive | Article reserved for our subscribers Around the world, these French people on death row
Read later
Concerning five Australians, members of the “Bali Nine”, arrested in 2005 and sentenced to long prison terms for drug trafficking, Mr Yusril said the subject would be raised next week during a visit to Jakarta by the minister from the Australian Interior, Tony Burke.
The Memorable World
Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde”
Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde”
Discover
Indonesia currently has 530 convicts on death row, including 88 foreigners, rights group Kontras revealed recently, citing official data.
The last executions in the country date back to 2016: an Indonesian and three Nigerians convicted of drug trafficking were shot.
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 nineteen years in prison, which he is currently serving.
Michaël Blanc, a Frenchman from Bonneville (Haute-Savoie), was sentenced to life in prison after being arrested on the island of Bali in 1999 for drug trafficking. His sentence was then reduced to twenty years of imprisonment before he obtained conditional release and was able to return free to France in 2018.
