Case against Corby stands: Prosecutor

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 09/14/2006 8:12 AM

DENPASAR, Bali: An Indonesian prosecutor denied on Wednesday that the drug smuggling conviction of an Australian beautician was flawed because there was no fingerprint evidence tying her to the marijuana found in her bag.

Lawyers for Schapelle Corby have lodged a final appeal against her 20-year jail sentence for smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into Bali in a high-profile case that has transfixed Australia.

Corby has said the drugs found in her bodyboard bag at Bali's international airport were placed there by someone at an Australian airport.

""There was no need to fingerprint the evidence (the bag of marijuana) because it was evident that it was in the bag belonging to the convict,"" Prosecutor Suhadi said in a written submission to the Denpasar district court trying the appeal case.

""What has been submitted by the plaintiff was not an argument based on law but merely a conclusion because the plaintiff was unable to present evidence that could prove that the bodyboard bag in which 4.1 kg of marijuana was found did not belong to the convict,"" he said as quoted by Reuters.

As part of her final appeal, her lawyer, Erwin Siregar, had sought to obtain footage from security cameras at the Australian airport the day she flew into Bali on Oct. 8, 2004, to prove that the marijuana was not hers.

But the Australian government has told lawyers that no such footage showing Corby and her luggage existed. -- JP

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