Sydney-man Matthew Norman along with two others; Thanh Duc Tan Nguyen and Si Yi Chen, are to have their death sentences reduced to life. Known as the Malasti Three following their arrest at a hotel of that name in 2005, the three later had their sentences increased by Indonesia's court system, despite an appeal. Australian Scott Rush, who is also on death row, is now in the final stages of preparing a review into his own case, with the ruling seen as a positive step for Rush's own appeal.
Rush had the same treatment during appeal, with the Indonesian courts actually increasing his sentence to death following the appeal. In his first televised interview this month, Rush said that he had little idea of the consequences because of his only minor travel experience. "I didn't know what I was risking, I didn't know there was a death penalty, I didn't know anything about Bali really," he said.
Mr Rush went on to say that he regretted the decision, and the problems it had caused to his family, adding that the thought of execution weighed daily.
"They had a lot of... expectance for me I guess, I mean I do feel bad... It weighs on my mind pretty much every second of the day," he said.
"I mean I can't have a normal conversation like I used to be able to because of this.
"It's always in my mind. Always in the back of my head or it stops sometimes at the front."
Three Australians convicted of heroin smuggling in Indonesia have had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment, their lawyer said Thursday.Judges in Jakarta decided to spare the lives of three of the so-called "Bali Nine" gang of drug smugglers who tried to traffic heroin from the Indonesian resort island of Bali back to Australia in 2005."The Supreme Court made its ruling about four days ago and it commutes the death sentences for Si Yi Chen, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen and Matthew Norman to life sentences," lawyer Erwin Siregar told AFP by telephone from Bali.The three, now aged between 21 and 24, were arrested in a hotel room in Bali with a small quantity of heroin shortly after others in the gang were arrested at the island's airport.The gang's three ring leaders, Scott Rush, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, remain on death row, while the three other members are serving prison sentences ranging from life to 20 years.Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the government was trying to confirm the court's decision."If the reports are accuratethen of course it's very welcome," he told Nine Network television.Australian media said court documents and an interview with one of the judges revealed that the trio's previous good character, and their youth, had influenced the decision to drop the death sentences.Judge Hakim Nyak Pha said there had been "intense discussion" about what penalty was appropriate, Australia's Daily Telegraph reported. "They are not masterminds," the judge said.The three had expressed remorse and apologised to the court.Chen, Nguyen and Norman were known as the Melasti Three because they were arrested at the Melasti hotel in Bali.None of the three had drugs on them at the time, but police found 350 grammes of heroin in a suitcase in their room.Siregar, their lawyer, said he had been informally notified of the Supreme Court ruling and that he was seeking a copy of the official verdict.
The spokesman of the Indonesian Supreme Court could not be immediately reached for comments.
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