SBY to meet on presidential clemency this afternoon

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will preside over a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, a new bill on presidential clemency.

“I will explain to President Yudhoyono the details of the new bill, which was passed last year,” Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Patrialis denied that the meeting would also discuss the issue of parole for bribery convict Artalyta Suryani who is due to be released on parole on Jan. 27.

Patrialis said sentence reductions and parole were his ministry’s jurisdiction, while clemency was the domain of the President.

Artalyta was sentenced to four years in prison and did not receive a sentence reduction after she violated rules by bribing her way into a luxury cell. Artalyta was originally scheduled for release in mid-February 2011.