Australian drug suspect Michael Czugaj

INDONESIA. BUTT OUT ON DEATH PENALTY: BALI 9 JUDGE

December 7, 2005: the judges hearing the Bali Nine trials in Indonesia warned Australians not to interfere in Indonesia's right to impose capital punishment, insisting they would not allow their independence to be compromised.
They said that any attempt to influence their handling of the heroin trafficking cases would yield the same result as in Singapore with the drugs case of executed man Van Tuong Nguyen: defiance.
"Criticism from outside is expected, but Indonesian courts will only adhere to the laws applied in this country, and that includes the death penalty," Denpasar District Court judge and spokesman I Wayan Yasa Abadhi said.
"The judges will not budge, we will not be affected by public opinion or the media." Judge Yasa, one of three judges hearing the case against alleged kingpin Myuran Sukumaran, said it was possible some of the group could be sentenced to death by firing squad if found guilty.
"Yes. There is that possibility," he said. "Drug trafficking has a maximum penalty of death, but the judges may find reason to impose a lighter sentence. (Sources: dailytelegraph.news.com.au, 07/12/2005)