‘Mentally Ill’ Schapelle Corby Appeals to SBY for Clemency
Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana, April 12, 2010
Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has taken the necessary legal steps to formally appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for clemency and release from prison or for a reduction of her sentence for humanitarian reasons because she is mentally ill.
Corby’s appeal claims that she has become insane during her time at Kerobokan Prison in Bali.
The former beauty therapist, an Australian citizen, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she was arrested at Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai Airport in October 2004 carrying 4.1 kilograms of marijuana.
“The papers have been sent off [to the Supreme Court] on March 31,” said Gede Ketut Rantam, a court clerk at the Denpasar District Court.
He said the Supreme Court would forward the documentation to Yudhoyono.
“Considering that there is a formal criminal sentence, the convict has requested clemency from the Indonesian president in the form of a reduction in sentence, or release from jail,” said the appeal, which was forwarded by Corby through her lawyer, Iskandar Nawing. Last August, a psychiatrist reported that Corby’s mental health was deteriorating.
A decision from Yudhoyono could take many months.
Aside from documentation of rulings issued in the case, letters from two separate psychiatrists, one from Denny Thong, who examined Corby for a five-day period last May, were attached to the request for clemency.
Denny’s letter states that Corby is suffering from severe depression and is showing symptoms of psychosis, and recommends that she be moved to an environment which could provide her with proper, regulated medication in order to deal with her condition. Another psychiatric examination by Jonathan Phillips was conducted on Aug. 13, 2009.
Phillips again evaluated Corby during a visit to her prison in Bali this month and warned that her mental health was rapidly deteriorating.
“She is lost in her own bewildering world where fantasy, hallucinations and bizarre ideas dominate her mind,” Phillips said, according to a report in New Idea magazine.
Phillips, a former president of the Psychiatrist’s Guild of Australia and New Zealand, said Corby was “hanging by a thread” and needed to be moved.
0 comments:
Post a Comment