Mother and son found guilty of murder are doing all they can to escape the gallows in Indonesia.

Mum and son appeal for abolition of capital punishment

Death row inmates aulia Kesuma and her son, geovanni Kelvin, who were found guilty of soliciting the murders of aulia’s husband and stepson, are seeking to avoid the death penalty.

Both mother and son were sentenced to death by the South Jakarta district court on June 15. the court verdict was in accordance with the demands of the prosecutors, who claimed that both aulia and Kelvin had committed a terrible and inhumane crime.

aulia and Kelvin planned the murder of 54-year-old edi Chandra Purnama in august 2019. according to aulia, who married edi in 2011, her husband had not been employed during the entirety of their marriage. the relationship had never been harmonious, with the couple frequently fighting over the mischievous behaviour of edi’s son, Muhammad “Dana” adi Pradana.

aulia, who was entangled in 10 billion rupiah (RM3mil) debt to the bank, worried that edi had no intention of helping her pay off her debt. edi had refused aulia’s request for him to sell his house in lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, to pay her debt.

on aug 23, 2019, edi and Dana were given drinks spiked with 30 sleeping pills by aulia and Kelvin. When the victims fell asleep, two hitmen hired by aulia and Kelvin suffocated the two men. afterwards, the bodies were transported to Sukabumi city in West Java where they were burned inside a car.

Not long after the murder, the Jakarta Police arrested the mother and son after noticing Kelvin’s suspicious burn wound.

after a lengthy trial, the court found aulia and Kelvin guilty of soliciting the murders and sentenced the pair to death.

the lawyer for the two defendants, Firman Candra, sent pleas addressed to eight state officials asking for the death penalty to be abolished.

“on Friday, we sent the pleas to the President, the Vice President, the house Representatives Commission iii, the law and human rights minister, the [Jakarta] high Court chief, the Supreme Court chief and the National Commission on human Rights, among other parties,” Firman said on tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

in the letters, the lawyer argued that the death penalty was a violation of article 4 of law No. 29/1999 on human rights and most importantly article 3 of the Universal Declaration of human Rights, which stipulates that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”