Australian drug suspect Michael Czugaj

INDONESIA. FIVE AUSTRALIAN DRUG CONVICTS GET REDUCED SENTENCES, DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR RINGLEADERS

April 27, 2006: five young Australians jailed for life in Indonesia after being caught smuggling heroin from Bali have had their sentences cut to 20 years, but an appeal court upheld the death penalty on two ringleaders. The five were members of the so-called "Bali Nine" gang arrested on the resort island in 2005 while trying to smuggle more than 8.2 kg (18 lb) of heroin to Australia.
"The purpose of these punishments is not to seek revenge but to give defendants chances to fix their lives," Bali High Court deputy chief Hyster Arsan Pardede told reporters after the appeal verdicts.
But the court upheld death sentences for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the group's two masterminds, and also approved the life sentence of another drug courier who had not appealed.
A decision on the ninth ring member's appeal has not yet been made. Three of the convicts who had their sentences reduced -- Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman -- were arrested at a Kuta Beach hotel last year where heroin, scales and other drug-related equipment were found. The others were Renae Lawrence and Michael Czugaj, two of the four drug couriers who strapped bags of heroin to their bodies before trying to board a plane to Australia at Bali's airport. (Sources: Reuters, 27/04/2006)