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Russian defendant regrets attempt to smuggle orangutan
A prosecutor demanded on Tuesday that the Denpasar District Court sentence a Russian man, Andrei Zhestkov, 27, to six months in prison for trying to smuggle an orangutan from Bali
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span>A prosecutor demanded on Tuesday that the Denpasar District Court sentence a Russian man, Andrei Zhestkov, 27, to six months in prison for trying to smuggle an orangutan from Bali.
Prosecutor AA Made Suara Teja Buana also demanded that the judge fine him Rp 5 million (US$353) or serve an additional month’s imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.
“The defendant’s act goes against the government’s program on protecting animals in Indonesia,” said prosecutor Teja Buana.
The prosecutor also considered some mitigating factors. “The defendant has admitted his act and shows remorse. The defendant is polite in court,” he added.
The prosecutor’s demand was much lighter than the maximum sentence of five years carried under the 1990 Conservation Law.
Zhestkov responded to the prosecutor’s demand by conveying his defense statement. He said he felt regret for what he had done.
“I feel regret. I didn’t know that orangutans were not allowed to be taken out of Indonesia. I really love orangutans. So sorry,” Zhestkov said in Russian. Zhestkov was arrested at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in March as he was allegedly carrying a drugged orangutan in his luggage. Police say Zhestkov had been planning to take a flight back to Russia via Seoul, South Korea, when airport aviation security officers detected the 2-year-old orangutan, along with two geckos and four chameleons.
In an earlier trial, Zhestkov told the panel of judges presided by judge Bambang Ekaputra that he was told by his friend, identified only as Igor, to bring the orangutan to Russia. The suitcase and rattan basket he used to carry the orangutan was also owned by Igor. It was also Igor who told him how to take care of the orangutan inside the suitcase. “He gave the drug to be given [to the orangutan],” Zhestkov said.
Zhestkov said he did not know it was orangutan. “I thought it was a monkey,” he said.
Igor also told Zhestkov to report the monkey to the quarantine office once he arrived at the airport. “He told me to ask for a permit from quarantine. And if the quarantine doesn’t give the permit, he told me to just leave it at the airport,” he said, adding that he never thought he could be jailed for doing so.
Zhestkov said he met Igor while on a six-day holiday in Bali. Igor had return to Russia earlier, and said he was in a hurry so he could not bring the orangutan with him. Igor told Zheskov that he bought the orangutan from a street market on Java.
The trial will be continued next week to hear the judge’s verdict.
