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Japanese man drops plan to appeal life sentence
A Japanese citizen who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing 2
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Japanese citizen who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing 2.35 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine has dropped his plan to file for an appeal for fear of getting the death penalty.
Syusvida Lastri, the lawyer of defendant Masaru Kawada, 73, told The Jakarta Post that they had submitted a letter to withdraw the appeal at the Pariaman District Court in West Sumatra on Tuesday.
'Through a representative from the Medan Japanese Consulate in North Sumatra, we have confirmed to Kawada's family in Japan that he has accepted the life sentence. On Tuesday, we asked Kawada again whether or not he would file for an appeal, and he decided to accept the verdict and withdraw the appeal,' Syusvida said on Thursday.
She added that Kawada was afraid an appeal would lead to the harsher sentence of the death penalty.
'We also took into consideration that the Indonesian government is forcefully punishing drug offenders, while the amount of contraband found in his luggage was quite significant. The mitigating factors in the case were that Kawada is already elderly [and was] polite and cooperative during the trial,' said Syusvida.
Kawada, of Aichi prefecture, worked as a private English teacher in Japan. He had once visited Jakarta in 2004.
According to court documents, a man identified as Edward Mark met Kawada in Japan last November and asked him to travel to Macau, when Mark paid for Kawada's tickets and accommodation and gave him US$500 for travel expenses.
While in Macau, Kawada met a Chinese woman, identified as Sherly, who asked him to take a bag to a friend in Padang.
Kawada, who flew to Padang from Macau via Kuala Lumpur, said he had checked the bag and did not find anything suspicious. He only realized he was carrying methamphetamine upon his arrival when customs officials arrested him and confiscated the drugs.
On Nov. 22, 2014, he went through an X-ray machine at Minangkabau International Airport three times, however the contraband was not noticed at first as it was hidden in the seam of the luggage.
The bag contained a net weigh of 2.35 kg of crystal methamphetamine, which police estimated had a street value of Rp 3 billion ($230,000). Kawada was detained at the Padang Pariaman prison, located 70 kilometers northwest of Padang city.
'As he arrived at the Minangkabau International Airport, Kawada contacted someone, but detectives from the West Sumatra Police headquarters failed to trace the call from Batam, Riau Islands,' said Syusvida.
The Padang Pariaman District Court sentenced Kawada to life on May 20. The verdict was far more severe than that sought by prosecutors of 16 years. Mark and Sherly have been placed on the police's wanted list.
During the trial, Kawada said he would donate his organs if he were sentenced to more than five years in prison.
The government has recently executed 14 drug convicts, including 12 foreigners, a part of its efforts to confront a drug emergency. More than 130 people are currently on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About a third of them are foreigners.
