As many as 624 inmates, including Australian Schapelle Leigh Corby, nicknamed "Ganja Queen" by foreign media, from nine penitentiaries across Bali will receive remissions ahead of Indonesian Independence Day on August 17.
Seven foreign inmates, including Corby and compatriot Renae Lawrence of the notorious Bali Nine drug case, are among inmates who will get sentence reductions. Corby and Renae will get three and four months reductions respectively.
Corby, whose case sparked a global reaction, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Denpasar District Court for smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Bali on May 27, 2005.
During the much-publicized course of Corby's trial, she maintained the drugs were planted in her boogie board bag and she did not know about them. The case caused tensions in Indonesia's relations with Australia.
Lawrence, the only female among nine Australians caught attempting to smuggle a total of 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia in April 2005, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Feb. 13, 2006, but had her sentenced reduced to 20 years upon a successful appeal.
The Bali Nine case gained global attention after the Denpasar District Court, for the first time ever, issued death sentences for drug-related cases. The sentences were handed down to Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Another foreigner benefiting from the remissions is Djelloud Hamdane, an Algerian national. Hamdane will walk free, and is scheduled to leave Indonesia and return home.
As of last year, the number of foreign inmates convicted in drugs-related cases in Indonesia reached 34,166. The National Narcotics Agency reported there were a total of 119,453 drugs-related inmates in 2007.
"In Denpasar's Kerobokan Prison, 385 inmates will get reductions, with 42 to be released immediately," head of the Bali regional office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, Mohammad Indra, was quoted as saying by Antara on Wednesday.
Speaking after a meeting with Bali Governor Dewa Beratha in Denpasar, Indra said Beratha would lead a flag-raising ceremony at Kerobokan Prison to commemorate Independence Day. Beratha will also symbolically present the sentence reductions to inmates.
The governor will then hand over a set of gamelan (traditional musical ensemble) requested by prison officials.
Beratha said the gamelan would have a positive contribution in the effort to rehabilitate the inmates.
