Prosecutors urge death penalty for Bali Nine ringleaders

Prosecutors with the Denpasar District Court have called on the Supreme Court to reject the final appeal filed by Bali Nine convicts Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, thus upholding the two ringleaders' death penalty.

Reading out their response to the appeal during a trial Friday, the prosecution team disagreed with the convicts’ plea for their sentence to be reduced to 20 years in prison, saying the death sentence was the most appropriate punishment considering the severity of their crime as drug traffickers.

Prosecutor Siti Sawiyah said the death penalty was the most appropriate sentence to deter others from committing similar crimes.

“They have committed a crime that was organized, well-planned and secretive. Should they receive a lighter punishment, it may be serve as an example, encouraging other people to commit a similar modus operandi,” she said.

“Therefore, we ask the Indonesian Supreme Court in Jakarta to accept our opinions, and it should reject the appeal,” she said.

Chan, 26, and Sukumaran, 29, were two of nine Australians convicted for an attempt to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin out of Bali in 2005.

Through the appeal filed by their lawyers in August, they seek to have their death sentences reduced to 20 years in prison.