Posted on 05/29/2005 1:03:37 PM PDT by wagglebee
CHAPELLE Corby is suffering cruel abuse and racial taunts in jail as Indonesian authorities move to keep her in prison for life.
The Indonesian Government yesterday backed the prosecution bid to toughen Corby's 20-year jail sentence for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali's airport last October.
"The 20 years in jail handed down by the Denpasar District Court is too light," Indonesian Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Sale told the Bali Post newspaper.
"She deserves to be sentenced to life."
As the reality of the marathon jail term sank in, Corby, 27, issued a heartfelt thank you to the nation.
"Thank you Australia. Thank you for standing by me," she said through her lawyers.
"Thank you for being there with me."
In other developments:
IT emerged long-term inmates of the dirty and overcrowded prison where she is being held have life expectancies of only 10 years.
THE trial judge defended his verdict as just.
HER family fears she may take her life if she is left to rot in prison.
MEMBERS of the Bali 9 were left dispirited after hearing for the first time that Corby had been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
THE Federal Government is offering to pay for the services of two top QCs with expertise in appeals in Indonesian law.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer, Vasu Rasiah, said she was struggling inside the notorious Kerobokan prison.
"Schapelle is very emotional - sometimes she is smiling, sometimes she is crying," he said.
"She's undergoing deep shock."
"Five or 10 years maybe you can understand, but 20 years - she just can't comprehend the time frame."
Ms Corby's cousin, who gave her name only as Nina, described the Australian's jail cell as a "disgusting, dirty and overcrowded place".
"She says the Indonesians inside are giving her hell because she wears western clothes and she can't speak Indonesian," she said.
The jail, near the Balinese capital Denpasar, was built for 366 prisoners, but holds 525. Among them are the Bali bombers.
The "Smiling Assassin" Amrozi - so-called because he laughed when punished for his role in killing 88 Australians - has yelled abuse at Corby as she tried to exercise.
Kerobokan prison doctor Anak Agung Gede Hartawan said common diseases included respiratory ailments and skin conditions, while many prisoners complained of headaches.
AIDS/HIV was rife, because corrupt officials turned a blind eye to drug abuse - indeed they are implicated in supplying them.
Dr Hartawan said 11 prisoners were confirmed carriers of HIV/AIDS, but dozens more were thought to have the virus.
Corby shares her 5m-wide cell with seven other women.
She will be forced to wash with a small bucket of untreated water and a ladle.
The squat toilet is near the food preparation area and the risk of contracting gastric disease is high.
For up to 20 hours a day she will be confined to her cell, where she will sleep on a mat on a tiled floor under a fluorescent light that is never switched off.
Chief judge Linton Sirait defended the guilty verdict, dismissing public angst the decision has caused.
"I am responsible for my verdict to the God, not to the people."
Corby's mother Rosleigh had screamed after the verdict that the judges would lose sleep over their decision, but yesterday Judge Sirait said he had slept "very well last night".
He said had not let Corby's emotion influence the decision.
"A judge is not allowed to bring his emotion to the case, so the judge decides in accordance to the law," he said.
Corby's family last night issued a statement appealing to Australians to continue visiting Bali.
"Do not boycott Bali. We don't want the Balinese people to hurt any more," it said.
"We just want the Australian people to boycott Qantas flights and direct your anger at Jakarta.
"Thank you to all the Australian people for their support. We are not finished yet."
Corby's brother Michael feared his sister might try to take her own life.
"She'd be thinking of killing herself," he said.
"She's been strong up until now, believing justice will prevail. But now . . . she's not going to cope."
Corby's Australian lawyer said it was likely they would accept the Australian Government's offer of legal assistance.
Solicitor Robin Tampoe said any assistance from Perth QCs Tom Percy and Mark Trowell, experts in appeals and Indonesian law, would be welcome.
The Australian Government had urged the Corby defence team to accept the pro bono offer.
Mr Percy yesterday warned that Corby risked having her jail term extended to life if the defence team appealed.
But criminologist Professor Paul Wilson, who testified in favour of Corby during the trial, said a win was not out of the question.
"It will be extremely difficult, but not impossible," he said.
Even the wisest of parents have stupid, rebellious children.
Death is a change of heart.
Correction...
"States"
I can't read minds, but I think the poster you are responding to probably hasn't read up on the case.
There was a lot of exculpatory evidence and statements, including information from a person already serving time. Based on what I've read, I think she has been railroaded.
"Based on what I've read, I think she has been railroaded."
I have no opinions on this woman's guilt or innocence, and I feel bad for her and her parents.
But can you, or someone else, please explain WHY anyone would have framed her? Why would baggage handlers have planted drugs on her if that was what happened? I asked this on another thread and nobody answered me that I saw.
It seems a pointless thing to do, just to put some poor woman in prison. For Life? It makes no sense.
When I was in the USN in the 70's, we left one of our guys behind in an Italian prison for drugs. He was still there my next cruise.
You describe a perfect world, which this isn't of course. Guilt or innocence is the basic issue, also the justice system...corrupt or inviolate...the laws, are they draconian or merely applied capriciously. What sentences were handed out to other drug smugglers from other countries, not Australia? If Corby's sentence is unremarkable, then only the judge's threat not to appeal stirs the pot. The worldwide publicity must be getting to them, especially as they're portrayed as the bad guys while Corby is the frail victim behind bars. Prisoner exchange seems the only way out here.
Ah, early childhood is crucial to psychological development, but once they hit adolescence, children often identify more with their friends than their parents. A certain amount of rebellion is healthy, since they need to separate themselves from their parents and become independent. The trick is to know who your children's friends are and also to know where your children are at all times. Even so, my next door neighbor's son climbed out his bedroom window at three am more than once...he was 13...to meet his pals, two boys from a another nice family, and off they'd go through the woods to a nearby army base. They'd wander around the firing range in the dead of night. Luckily, they didn't get blown up and the base MP's caught them and turned them over to the local cops. This happened at least twice. Young boys and the stuff of adventure.
P.S. Again, I told my friends, who I was with at the time, fifteen minutes before the judgment, (and I was not watching the television coverage), that she would get 20 years. I know a little about the Australian and Indonesian mindset.
Why would "they" - whomever that is - want to plant 9 pounds of MJ on her?
What do "they" gain by doing this?
Which is why I don't believe her story at all.
So in the U.S. she would get life?
Let's see, that man in North Carolina got 39 years for stealing a black and white tv set. He applied for parole 26 times and was turned down. Murderers were let out after 8 years. There's some talk about his having beat up a very old lady when he stole the tv set, which may be why his sentence was beyond comprehension. And maybe he never said he was sorry.
Your detailed description of what she did and how she did it seems to sink her pleas of innocence. But even so, for a judge to threaten a defendant from the bench to prevent her use of an appeal is preposterous.
They don't have beaches in Australia?
I'd appreciate it if you left Lebanon off that list. Westerners have been visiting there for years (even when Syria was there) with no miscarriage of justice. They've been returning year after year after having so much fun there.
The beautiful Archipelago of Indonesia has so much potential. Some amazing coral reefs exist there as well.
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