T

he Denpasar District Court has sentenced South African Stephen Henri Lubbe to 15 years in prison for attempting to smuggle 1.49 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine into Bali.

The verdict, read out during in the court on Monday, was lighter that the prosecutor'€™s demand of 19 years in prison.

'€œStephen Henri Lubbe has been proven guilty of importing a type 1 narcotic weighing more than 5 grams. The court sentences the defendant to 15 years in prison and a Rp 10 billion fine. If the fine is not paid, an additional one month in prison must be served,'€ presiding judge Anak Agung Wirakanta told the court.

Lubbe, 59, was found guilty of violating Article 113 of the Narcotics Law.

A mitigating factor was that Lubbe had admitted his wrongdoing.

'€œThe defendant regretted his wrongdoing. He has never been convicted and has apologized to the people of Bali,'€ the judge said when explaining the lighter sentence.

Lubbe was given seven days to appeal the verdict.

Lubbe was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Feb. 9 upon arrival from Hong Kong. When he passed the airport customs checkpoint, 1.49 kg of crystal meth was found in a hidden compartment in his suitcase. The drugs were reportedly worth Rp 3.08 billion.

Lubbe was not overly disappointed with the verdict and his lighter sentence. Prior to the verdict, Lubbe read out his statement: '€œI want to apologize to the people of Bali and I am really, really sorry for bringing the drugs into the island of Bali,'€ he said in the statement.

When the trial ended, Lubbe handed out copies of his two-page letter to several journalists covering the trial.

'€œJust for you,'€ he told Bali Daily and other journalists upon entering a cell at the Denpasar District Court.

Through his letter, Lubbe shared his experience in going through legal processing in Indonesia. '€œI have been told to pay US$30,000 to get a lighter sentence. My lawyers agreed to pay the money, which allegedly went to the prosecutor and the judge,'€ he said in his letter.

Lubbe also wrote: '€œCorruption is killing this beautiful island.'€

He also revealed that he was not the only victim of corruption. '€œI am not the only one. There are some lucky foreigners who paid up to $120,000 and they got low prison terms,'€ he wrote.

Lubbe also sent a message to president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo. '€œMr. Jokowi. Sir. I hope when you get in power, you will look into this corruption story and put an end to it! There are a lot of people in prison that don'€™t even belong there. They are there because they are poor and do not have the money to pay those corrupt people. No Money No Honey,'€ he wrote.

His lawyer Ary B Soenardi and colleague Iswahyudi strongly denied Lubbe'€™s written claim.

 '€œIt is not true. It'€™s defamation. We never asked him to pay anything. We were sincerely helping him during the trial,'€ Iswahyudi said.

'€œI don'€™t understand why he wrote that letter and said that I told him to pay. We even paid for his food,'€ Soenardi said

Similarly, prosecutor Ketut Sujaya firmly rejected the allegation, saying he had never asked for money or anything else. '€œFor God'€™s sake, I never asked for money. You can ask the lawyers,'€ the prosecutor exclaimed.