Australia says trial of its citizens ‘corrupt’

Jakarta remains unmoved as clock ticks toward executions of drug traffickers

Countries of the nine drug traffickers condemned to death, and likely to be executed as early as Tuesday, made last-minute pleas on Monday to Indonesia, with Australia asking Jakarta to investigate reports that the trial of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had been tainted by corruption.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the allegations that judges requested money to commute the death sentences for the pair were “very serious” and called into question the integrity of the sentencing process.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said Australia needed to show proof of alleged corruption and questioned why concerns were only being raised now instead of 10 years ago.

Armanatha Nasir, spokesman for Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, said the two Australians have been given all the legal avenues to challenge their death sentences.

Also on Monday, Chan, 31, married his Indonesian girlfriend Febyanti Herewila on Nusakambangan Island, home to several high-security prisons, his brother Michael said, urging the country’s president to show compassion to the newlyweds.

The two are among nine drug convicts, including others from Brazil and Nigeria, due to be executed as soon as Tuesday night.

Bali-based lawyer Muhammad Rifan told the Sydney Morning Herald that he had agreed to pay judges in the cases of Chan and Sukumaran more than A$130,000 ($101,647) to give them a prison term of less than 20 years.

Rifan said the deal fell through when the judges told him they had been ordered by senior legal and government members in Jakarta to impose a death penalty, and he didn’t have enough money to meet a revised, higher demand for a lighter sentence.

“An execution is an irrevocable step, and I believe that these hearings and appeal processes should be concluded before any decision is taken,” Bishop said.

Indonesia’s Judicial Commission said it would look into reports alleging corruption, but said its findings would have no bearing on their cases.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday that he is “sympathetic” to the plight of the Filipina facing death and has promised to look into her case, after he met his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino.