Five Australian drug convicts get reduced sentences
Posted on: Thursday, 27 April 2006, 00:20 CDT
DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Five young Australians jailed for life in Indonesia after being caught smuggling heroin from Bali have had their sentences cut to 20 years, but an appeal court upheld the death penalty on two ringleaders.
The five were members of the so-called "Bali Nine" gang arrested on the resort island last year while trying to smuggle more than 8.2 kg (18 lb) of heroin to Australia.
"The purpose of these punishments is not to seek revenge but to give defendants chances to fix their lives," Bali High Court deputy chief Hyster Arsan Pardede told reporters after the appeal verdicts.
But the court upheld death sentences for the group's two masterminds and also approved the life sentence of another drug courier who had not appealed.
A decision on the ninth ring member's appeal has not yet been made.
Three of the convicts who had their sentences reduced -- Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman -- were arrested at a Kuta Beach hotel last year where heroin, scales and other drug-related equipment were found.
The others were Renae Lawrence and Michael Czugaj, two of the four drug couriers who strapped bags of heroin to their bodies before trying to board a plane to Australia at Bali's airport.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said after the original sentences that the punishments should serve as a warning to other young Australians.
The prosecution and the defense can ask higher courts to look again at the cases, so the appeals are not necessarily final.
Source: REUTERS
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