Bali Death Sentences ’wrong’

THE Indonesian policeman who led the investigation into the Bali nine says he disagrees with death sentences imposed on four of the heroin smugglers.

I Made Pastika, who now heads Indonesias top drug unit, says he was surprised when the Supreme Court in Jakarta last year overturned jail sentences imposed by a Bali court and ordered that the four Australians face the firing squad.

But General Pastika, the former chief of police in Bali, told journalists in Jakarta yesterday that he agreed with death sentences that were earlier imposed in Bali on the two leaders of the Bali nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

He said Chan and Sukumaran "had the most important roles. These two arranged everything."

The comments by General Pastika, one of Indonesias most respected officers, are likely to help lawyers argue in appeals to save the lives of Scott Rush, Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen.

He said the Supreme Court might have decided to overturn the Bali court jail sentences for the four because of the "political situation". "Maybe when the case came to the Supreme Court the spirit of fighting drugs was very high," he said. "I was surprised by the decision because it is not common."

He defended his order to arrest the nine young Australians rather than allow them to travel to Australia where the Australian Federal Police could have followed them to others involved, including the financiers of the operation. "We must crack syndicates whenever and wherever we can … we cannot give them space to expand."

General Pastika said he understood the concern in Australia that the Australian Federal Police allowed Rush to leave for Bali even though they had been told by his father that he was going there to commit drug offences. But he said he could not comment on the AFPs role.

General Pastika said Australian, Indonesian and Thai police were still trying to capture those responsible for delivering more than nine kilograms of heroin to the Australians from Thailand.

Five of the six Australians on death row have lodged appeals, claiming that Indonesias constitution enshrines the right to life.

Lawyers for the other, Scott Rush, are preparing a similar appeal for Indonesias Constitutional Court.

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