T

he panel of judges at the Appeal Court in Putrajaya, Malaysia, has decided to adjourn the hearing on the appeal petition of two Indonesian brothers found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by a lower court.

The judges decided to adjourn the hearing until Jan. 28, 2014 because they said they had not yet thoroughly studied the appellants'€™ petition, even though it was sent to the court on Aug. 1, according to a statement by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The appellants'€™ lawyers urged the judges to allow the hearing to proceed with verbal explanations by the legal team of the appeal petition but the judges rejected this saying they were afraid the hearing could be '€œunjust and unfair'€ if all the judges had not read the whole petition thoroughly beforehand, added the statement.

On Oct. 18, 2012, the Shah Alam High Court declared Frans Hiu, 22, and his brother Dharry Frully, 20, guilty of the murder of Malaysian citizen Kharti Raja on Dec. 3, 2010 and sentenced both to death. '€œThe embassy and the retained legal team are confident the appellants can avoid the death penalty because many facts were ignored by the judges in the high court,'€ the statement said.

The brothers denied they killed Kharti. They told the court that Kharti died after the two Indonesians and a Malaysian co-worker were woken by Kharti'€™s sudden arrival in their lodgings in the shop-house where they worked.

Kharti, a suspected burglar, had failed to gain entry through the back door and instead attempted to enter through the ceiling and woke the inhabitants when he fell through it.

The two brothers tied Kharti up and dragged him outside and waited for the police to arrive. They said Kharti was under the influence of drugs or alcohol allowing them to apprehend him easily.

Frans claimed Kharti was already dying when they dragged him out of the premises. However, the indictment stated that the two killed the victim through blunt force trauma.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar previously said that the legal proceedings had been unjust. '€œThe Malaysian co-worker who also faced the same murder charge was acquitted. It is discriminatory,'€ he said.

Lawyers from the Gooi & Azura law firm, who have been appointed by the Indonesian Embassy to provide legal assistance to the brothers, said that the appeal court must grant the appeal for at least two reasons.

'€œThe judges in the lower court failed to disclose the specific cause of Kharti'€™s death,'€ said lawyer Gooi Song Seng, as quoted by Antara. Secondly a forensic examination had confirmed a substantial presence of methamphetamine in the victim'€™s body, sufficient to cause a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the government has begun the repatriation from Malaysia of an Indonesian jailed for 31 years for armed robbery. Shamsuddin bin Yaakob, 59, will be returned to his hometown in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, according to a statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur made available to the Post on Monday.

 Shamsuddin was arrested in 1982 and subsequently found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on June 26, 1989.