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Corby's Final Appeal To Be Heard Friday
Sydney Morning Herald | 08/24/2006

Schapelle Corby is composed and hopeful as she prepares for her final legal appeal in a Bali court tomorrow, her brother says.

Michael Corby visited his younger sister in Bali's Kerobokan jail on Thursday, but managed to steal only a few minutes with her after arriving as visiting hours finished.

He said Corby appeared to be "fairly healthy" and was "hoping for the best" when her appeal is heard tomorrow in the Denpasar District Court.

"I don't think she's too nervous, she's been to court many times," Michael Corby said.

The hearing is Corby's last shot at having her 20-year jail term and conviction for drug smuggling quashed.

If the appeal fails, the only other avenue open to her is a plea for clemency to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Corby has always maintained her innocence and insists she did not know about the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her body board bag when she flew into Bali in October 2004.

She claims she was the innocent victim of baggage handlers involved in moving drugs around in Australia.

Her defence team plans to submit a document requested from Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison in relation to possible drug smuggling at Australian airports the day Corby left for Bali.

The 19-page document setting out Corby's appeal also claims mistakes and discrepancies by the judges who convicted her.

Her lawyers will argue she should be acquitted because the judges did not properly distinguish between importing, owning and using marijuana.

The document says prosecutors could prove only that she was in possession of the marijuana found in her bodyboard bag, but not that she was importing it.

Corby's lawyers also argue her sentence was too harsh, compared to punishments handed down for similar offences elsewhere in Indonesia.

Her mother Rosleigh Rose won't be present for the hearing. She has returned to Australia after contracting dengue fever.

Defence lawyer Haposan Sihombing said Corby had picked out a dress for her day in court tomorrow.

"She said (her sister) Mercedes will bring it to jail for her to wear," the lawyer said.

In making the final appeal, Corby runs no risk of increasing her sentence, as a judicial review can only maintain or reduce her prison term, or acquit her altogether.

Indonesian law says there are three reasons for a judicial review appeal, including new evidence, disparity of decision made by judges at one of the courts, and judicial negligence.

Corby was last week given a two-month cut to her 20-year sentence to mark Indonesia's independence day.

Another of Corby's lawyers Erwin Siregar yesterday said she would not apply to be transferred from Indonesia to Australia to serve out the rest of her jail term.

Siregar said the Gold Coast woman was not interested in a pending prisoner exchange deal between Indonesia and Australia.

When she returned home to Australia, she wanted to do so as a free woman, the lawyer said.

Indonesia and Australia are expected to sign off soon on a prisoner exchange deal, but Jakarta has said it will only cover prisoners whose sentences have been made final.

Given Corby's appeal, this makes her ineligible for the moment.

 

king cola

Schapelle Corby wins appeal delay

August 26, 2006 12:00am


SCHAPELLE Corby's lawyers have won an adjournment in the appeal they launched yesterday against her drug conviction.

They will use the time to get film from security cameras at Sydney airport's baggage handling area.
Defence lawyer Erwin Siregar said a letter from Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison, which he presented to Bali's Denpasar District Court yesterday, confirmed all security cameras were operating the day Corby's bodyboard bag passed through it -- October 8, 2004.

Hours later she was arrested at Bali's Denpasar airport after officials found 4.1kg of marijuana in the unlocked bag.

Corby was originally sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

Australian Customs officials told Mr Siregar last year that they did not have any footage of Corby or her bags on that day, and last night a spokesman for Senator Ellison's office confirmed that no such footage existed.

But Mr Siregar said outside court: "If there isn't any footage of her or the bag, we can still see whether there is anyone trying to slip in drugs in passengers' baggage on that day."

Earlier, Mr Siregar read a 19-page submission to the court setting out the grounds for Corby's bid for a final appeal, known as a judicial review.

"The ruling was made without adhering to evidence that appeared during hearing sessions," Mr Siregar said, reiterating that Corby had no knowledge of the marijuana found in her bag.

He said the fact that her fingerprints were not on the plastic bag in which the drugs were found showed she had no knowledge of them.

Mr Siregar said the prosecution had also failed to prove she was a drug dealer, drug user or part of a drug-running operation.

Corby, wearing a white shirt and black scarf, looked tense as she fought her way to the courtroom through a media scrum in her first public appearance in more than a year.

Before the hearing began the 29-year-old Queensland beauty student began hyperventilating, but managed to calm herself down.

"Get out!" Corby's sister, Mercedes, yelled at photographers competing for the best shot of the Gold Coast woman as she was led into court.

In court, Corby gripped her lawyer's hand as camera flashes dazzled her for several minutes. At one point she turned to her brother and sister and said "this is ridiculous".

The hearing will reconvene on September 6, when Mr Siregar will be expected to present any footage he obtains from Australian authorities.

Eventually all the evidence, and a summary of yesterday's hearing, will be sent to the Supreme Court in Jakarta, which will decide firstly if a judicial review is justified and, if so, what the outcome is.