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Inmate may evade death penalty after underage claims surface
Whatâs your age?: Womenâs Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise talks to the youngest inmate on death row, Yusman Telaumbanua, on the Nusakambangan prison island last week
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Whatâs your age?:: Womenâs Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise talks to the youngest inmate on death row, Yusman Telaumbanua, on the Nusakambangan prison island last week. Yohana visited the prison to clarify Yusmanâs age. (JP) (JP)
W
span class="inline inline-center">What's your age?: Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise talks to the youngest inmate on death row, Yusman Telaumbanua, on the Nusakambangan prison island last week. Yohana visited the prison to clarify Yusman's age. (JP)
Death row inmate Yusman Telaumbanua is to be transferred to a prison in Medan and his case reviewed given a report that he may have been a minor when sentenced.
'The Directorate General of Correctional Institutions has agreed to it, so we are just waiting for the right time to do the transfer,' said Law and Human Rights Ministry Central Java correctional division head Yuspahruddin, after visiting Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap regency, Central Java, on Friday, together with members of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs.
Yuspahruddin said Yusman would be transferred from Nusakambangan to Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary in Medan.
Yusman's case made headlines as he was reported to have still been 16 years old when he was sentenced to death by the Gunugsitoli District Court, Nias, in 2013.
Both the Indonesian and international justice systems allow minors to be given a maximum 10 years' imprisonment.
Article 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights state that the death penalty and life imprisonment shall not be imposed on children.
The case saw Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise visit Yusman at LP Batu Penitentiary on the prison island on Wednesday to confirm his age.
'Yes, we have met. He said he was still 16 when he was sentenced,' said Yohana after meeting Yusman.
Meanwhile, the North Sumatra Police said no procedures had been violated in Yusman's investigation, especially in regard to his age.
North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Helfi Assegaf said his office had re-examined the investigation process and had found no violations had been committed by the Nias Police.
Assegaf said no document had been found that stated Yusman was underage during the legal procedure. Even Yusman's eldest brother, he said, had confirmed that Yusman was an adult when he was investigated.
'The facts show that the police's investigation into Yusman was correct,' Assegaf told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) North Sumatra branch, however, presented different information.
Kontras North Sumatra coordinator Herdensi Adnin said Yusman was a minor when he was investigated by the Nias Police, as shown by his baptismal certificate.
'We received the certificate three weeks ago from Yusman. It was issued by the Indonesian Bethel Church, Nusakambangan, Central Java,' said Herdensi, adding that the document stated Yusman was born on Dec. 30, 1996.
'We will demand that the Supreme Court reviews the case,' he said on Friday.
Earlier, Kontras also suspected that Yusman had been subject to violence during the investigation and had not been accompanied by any lawyers during questioning.
The police denied employing violence during the investigation and said Yusman was accompanied by lawyers.
Yusman and his brother-in-law, Rusula Hia, were sentenced to death by the Gunungsitoli District Court, Nias, on May 21, 2013.
They were convicted for the premeditated murder of their three employers, Kolimarinus Zega, Jimmi Trio Girsang and Rugun Haloho, on April 24, 2012.
