T

angerang prosecutors have aired their irritation over violations of the Criminal Code Procedure (KUHAP) that have been stalling the execution of those who have been on death row for years.

Irfan Jaya, chief of general crime section at the Tangerang Prosecutors Office, voiced his complaint during a recent press conference.

"Article 263 of the KUHAP stipulates that the convicts on death row can only file a case review request once, but the practices in reality allow them to file case review requests more than once," he said.

He cited the case of Ang Kiem Sioe, 57, who was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in 2003.

The Dutch citizen was proved guilty of trafficking the illegal substance and operating two ecstasy factories believed to be among the largest in the world with capacity to produce thousands of ecstasy pills per hour in Cipondoh and Karawaci, Tangerang and between 1999 and 2002.

"Ang Kiem Sioe should have already been executed but it was stalled as he repeatedly filed case review requests to the Supreme Court."

The Tangerang District Court is known to be highly unsympathetic toward drug abusers and dealers, and sentenced 34 defendants to death between 2000 and 2006.

The defendants are mostly international drug traffickers, as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is located in Tangerang.

Legal experts have said that the death penalty is not simple but rather a long process; the implementation can take as long as five years.

Even though the district court may have sentenced a defendant to death, he or she may appeal to the high court, and later to the Supreme Court.

In five cases, the West Java High Court reduced death sentences to life sentences.

The Supreme Court commuted one death sentence to a 15-year jail term.

On the other hand, the court of appeal may also impose a more severe sentence, as happened to a Malawian who received a life sentence from the district court.

He appealed but the High Court imposed the death penalty.

The reason why defendants or convicts receive different sentences is that it all depends on the judges of the particular higher court.

Due to the hierarchy, the judges in the lower court who handed down the first sentence could not complain and change the new sentence.

The process can take longer because even though the Supreme Court has handed down the ruling, convicts may still ask the Supreme Court to review the case, and then request a presidential pardon, as stipulated in Law No.3/1950 on clemency requests.

The law states that a defendant may file a request for a pardon request to the President more than once, should the President reject the request.

Indonesia's death penalty is a legacy from the Dutch colonial system. The Netherlands itself has removed the death penalty from its laws, except for military-related crimes, since 1870, online journal hukumonline.com revealed.

Data from NGO on human rigths Imparsial showed there were at least 12 laws and regulations that carried a death penalty.

Included in the list are the Criminal Code, the laws on drugs and narcotics, the law on anti-corruption, the law on counterterrorism and the law on human rights trials.

Several members of the public have debated the death penalty, saying that it violated the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen's right to live.

In addition, drug evidence worth Rp 7 billion was recently destroyed at the Serpong Technology and Science Development Center (Puspitek) at Bumi Serpong Damai, South Tangerang.