Attorney General Slow in Executing Death Penalty: Observers

Jakarta - Indonesian Judicature Monitoring Community of the Law Faculty of the University of Indonesia (MAPPI FH UI) said the attorney general deliberately delays execution of death penalty. The attorney general has said by May there were 116 death row prisoners in the country waiting for a review of their cases, the last legal attempt to change their penalty. "It could be said the execution has been deliberately delayed," Choky Risda Ramadhana, the chairman of MAPPI FH UI said here last night. Earlier a death row inmate charged with robbery, murder,rape and abduction Bahar bin Matar died at a hospital in Cilacap, Central Java, after waiting for his execution which was not forthcoming after being dumped in the Nusakambangan island prison for more than 40 years . Bahar was sentenced to death by the Tembilahan district court in March 1970. Choky said if a convict no longer seeks a PK he should be executed immediately as his appeal to the supreme court has been rejected. There is no time limit for a PK but PK is valid only if there is new evidence that could be shown in favor of the convict, he said. "If no attempt from the convicts to seek a PK , the penalty should be executed immediately," he said. Deputy attorney general Darmono said the execution of the court decisions meted out to the 116 convicts is awaiting any attempt for a PK. "If there is no request for a PK they would be executed," Darmono said. (*)