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2 British journalists walk free, to return home soon
Two British journalists recently found guilty by a court in Riau Islands of visa violations were finally released from detention on Thursday and will soon leave Indonesia after clearing immigration procedures
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wo British journalists recently found guilty by a court in Riau Islands of visa violations were finally released from detention on Thursday and will soon leave Indonesia after clearing immigration procedures.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Batam District Court sentenced Neil Bonner, 31, and Rebecca Prosser, 30, to two months and 15 days in prison for violating the 2011 Immigration Law. The two journalists were arrested by a Navy patrol in Batam in May for filming a documentary on piracy in the Malacca Strait. The journalists were working while staying in the country under tourist visas, and thus violated Indonesia's immigration laws.
The court also ordered each of them to pay Rp 25 million (US$1,860) in fines.
Bonner and Prosser could finally breathe fresh air on Thursday after they were released from Batam Detention Center, where they had been detained for the past 72 days.
Yusron, head of the Batam Prosecutor's Office, told The Jakarta Post that the two journalists were eligible to walk free after prosecutors had decided to accept the Batam District Court's sentencing decision.
'They will be released after they complete all the administrative requirements and pay their fines,' Yusron said.
The sentence was lighter than that which prosecutors had sought for. Prosecutors demanded that the defendants spend five months in prison and pay a Rp 50 million fine.
Separately, the journalists' lawyer, Indra Aria Raharja, said that his side had been informed of the prosecutor's decision to acquiesce to the court.
'We are now processing the administrative matters including paying the fines. Then they will be handed over to the Batam Immigration Office before they are sent back home,' he said on Thursday.
He expressed the hope that all of the administrative matters could be finished by Friday so that both of his clients could be deported this week.
Bonner said earlier that he would keep plugging along in his profession despite his experience with Indonesian authorities.
'I will continue working as a journalist,' Bonner said on the sidelines of Tuesday's hearing.
He also said that he had always slept well while in detention and did not feel that he had been under any significant pressure.
