T

wo district courts in North Sumatra on Tuesday sentenced six defendants in two separate trials to life imprisonment for trafficking large amounts of marijuana. However, the life sentence received by the defendants is lighter than the death penalty sought by the prosecutors.

The Medan District Court sentenced two defendants, Yusri Iskandar, 32, and Robinson Tambunan, 49, to life in prison for the possession of 354 kilograms of marijuana.

In their verdict, the panel of judges said that they could not hand down the capital punishment to the two defendants as requested by the prosecutors due to lack of evidence that capital punishment could bring a deterrent effect.

'€œWe have found them guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentence them to life imprisonment,'€ presiding judge JH Simanjuntak said, as he read out the court'€™s verdict.

Simanjuntak said Yusri and Robinson were proven to have violated the 2009 Narcotics Law for dealing marijuana.

Both defendants did not comment on the judges ruling, and cried upon hearing the verdict.

In response to the verdict, the prosecutors said they would file for an appeal. The defendants'€™ lawyers said they were also considering whether to do the same thing.

The Medan Police arrested Yusri and Robinson in Sunggal area in December last year. Based on their admission, police later arrested 19-year-old Sulaiman Daud, a student at North Sumatra Muhammadiyah University (UMSU), who is believed to be the mastermind behind the drug-trafficking operation across the universities in the city.

Police later managed to arrest Sulaiman and four of his college mates, who were aware of Sulaiman'€™s drug trafficking operation but did not report him to police. The four students '€” Anugerah Sani Wijaya, Khairul Abdi, Jufri Febrian and Susry '€” had been earlier sentenced to eight months in prison.

Last month, after attending a trial at the Medan District Court, Sulaiman managed to escape police custody and has remained at large. Prosecutors have yet to deliver their punishment demand for Sulaiman.

Also on Tuesday, the Lubuk Pakam District Court in Deli Serdang regency sentenced four defendants '€” Muhajir, Fadli Fauzi, Mursyal and Zulkifli '€” to life imprisonment for trafficking 4.2 tons of marijuana to Jakarta.

Reading out the court'€™s verdict, presiding judge Nursyam said the four defendants, arrested in January by Medan Police personnel, had been proven guilty of violating Articles 114, 115 and 132 of the Criminal Code.

The defendants'€™ lawyer Herman Darwin and prosecutor Alfierro said they were still considering whether or not to file for an appeal.