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Corby retrial hopes rise
By David Murray and Cindy Wockner | The Sunday Times | 22jan06

THE prosecutor in Schapelle Corby's Bali drug trial last year believes the arrest of her brother this week may provide legitimate grounds for her case to be reopened.

Wiswantanu Ida Bagus said a police affidavit lodged in court by Queensland police might be the key to open a new trial for Corby in Denpasar District Court.

On Friday, Wiswantanu had thought it impossible for Corby's lawyers to have the case reopened. All the evidence pointed to her having smuggled the marijuana into Bali in a bodyboard bag.

But yesterday, told of the contents of the affidavit, he said: "The affidavit could be used to reopen the case."

Corby's half-brother, James Kisina, 18, faces eight charges arising from a home invasion and bashing at a known Brisbane suburban drug haunt this week.

In Beenleigh Magistrates' Court on Thursday, Kisina was remanded in custody to face counts including deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm and possession and production of a dangerous drug.

Kisina says he raided the home with two others to try to get information to help free his sister.

Corby's Bali defence lawyer, Erwin Siregar, will fly to Australia in a bid for new evidence for another appeal.

Mr Siregar said the former beauty student had been adamant Kisina was not involved in taking the drug to Bali.

But he said he would talk to Kisina and to police about the case against Corby's brother.

It could form the basis of an "extraordinary appeal" for Corby, Mr Siregar said.

He conceded his appeal was an unusual legal avenue in Indonesia, but it was not without precedent.

"The extraordinary appeal is very unusual. It's totally different to a judicial review," he said.

Other Indonesian lawyers have claimed the only avenues left to Corby are a judicial review or a presidential pardon, which requires an admission of guilt - something Corby has said she will not do.

Mr Siregar said documents supporting his extraordinary appeal would be lodged with the Supreme Court in Jakarta.

If a reopening is granted, the case would be heard before the District Court in Denpasar, which originally found Corby guilty and sentenced her to 20 years' jail.

That sentence, reduced to 15 years on appeal to the Bali High Court last year, was reinstated this week after the Supreme Court – Indonesia's highest court – upheld the District Court's findings.

Mr Siregar said he expected Corby's high-profile Jakarta-based lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, to remain on the case.

"Last night I talked with Hotman and I think we will continue to work together," Mr Siregar said. "I told him, `Why do you have to leave Schapelle, we have to stick together until the case is finished'."

Veiled police hints and the wording of the affidavit that Kinsina is linked to drug exportation – and to his half-sister's conviction and subsequent jailing for drug smuggling in Bali – have infuriated his lawyer.

Solicitor Mark Howden, representing Kisina, demanded police "put up or shut up".

Kisina has not been charged in relation to drug exportation, but a police affidavit reads: "He is suspected of some involvement in the exportation of cannabis for which his sister has received a 20-year imprisonment sentence."

Mr Howden said yesterday: "I think it is irresponsible to puff up an affidavit by even mentioning his sister.

"What has it got to do with his sister? If it has got something to do with his sister, then put up or shut up."

Mr Howden said some who read the affidavit could take the inference that Kisina – who was with Corby, 28, when she was caught with 4.1kg of marijuana at Bali's airport at Denpasar – was responsible for his sister's plight.

But police had provided no information to support the "highly inflammatory" allegation. He said it was "scurrilous to put a statement like that into an affidavit without anything to back it up".

Mr Howden said there was nothing in any prosecution material provided to him that supported an allegation of exportation of drugs.

Kisina, son of Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose, was arrested after a violent drug-related home invasion early on Tuesday. The Rochedale unit was under police surveillance.

Police say they found bags of marijuana at the Corby family home in Loganlea when they arrested Kisina.

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