Bali nine pair may be spared death: report
- From: AAP
- January 31, 2011
THE Indonesian court which heard the final appeal of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has raised their chances of being spared the death penalty.
Chan, 26, and Sukumaran, 29, were two of nine Australians convicted over a 2005 attempt to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali.
Their judicial review seeks to have their death sentences reduced to 20 years' prison.
Appeal hearings have been held in the Denpasar District Court, but the case has been sent to the supreme court for a verdict.
A written declaration that the right to life must not be ignored, reduced or taken away by anyone made by a panel of three judges was sent from the district court to the supreme court last month, The Age newspaper reports.
The newspaper said the six-point concluding opinion, which it had obtained, backs most of the arguments put to the court by the pair's legal counsel and notes that many other countries no longer have the death penalty.
"Human rights constitute the most basic of rights inherent to man and is universal and eternal. Therefore, it must be protected, defended and must not be ignored, reduced (or) taken away by anyone," the judges said.
Prosecutors have called on the supreme court to uphold the death sentences.
Scott Rush, the only Bali Nine courier on death row, also has a judicial review before the supreme court.
