Filipina inmate unable to testify against ‘recruiters’
Indonesian officials say haven’t received notification for death row inmate with delayed execution to testify.
By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Indonesia has not received official notification that would allow a Filipina whose execution was delayed to testify during the first hearing of her alleged recruiters in the Philippines.
Wirogunan Prison on Java island has prepared a room for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso to testify against the suspects who allegedly used her as a drug courier through a videoconference, but no notification of their trial has arrived, Kompas.com reported Friday.
"We have not yet received the notification," prison warden Zainal Arifin was quoted as saying Friday. "But we are ready to organize a videoconference anytime."
Veloso, 30, had been scheduled to be executed with eight other drug convicts April 29, but was granted a delay after Maria Kristina Sergio, who claimed to have duped her into trafficking drugs into Indonesia, turned herself in to Philippine authorities.
Indonesia has underlined that Veloso's stay of execution is temporary, and not an acquittal.
The Philippines’ government has granted permission for Veloso to testify trough videoconference as she is prohibited from leaving Indonesia.
A spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney general’s office said Thursday that the Philippines had asked for Veloso to testify on May 8 and 14.
"However, we have still not received an official notification," the Jakarta Post quoted Tony Spontana as saying.
He explained that the notification was important as it would clarify technical details of the conference such as the language that would be used, the parties presented at the trial and the expenses to be covered by the Philippines.
Veloso, a single mother of two sons who sought work in Malaysia as a maid, was arrested while smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport, Java island, in April 2010.
Spontana added that the execution to Veloso and a Frenchman whose execution had also been delayed would be decided after their legal processes finalized.
He also explained that the office was evaluating the previous execution – the second after six drug offenders were shot by firing squad January -- before carrying out the next round.
"The third execution will be decided after the evaluation to the April execution," he said, according to Tribunnews.com.
Meanwhile, the trial of French national Serge Atlaoui, 51, has been postponed until Wednesday.
The father-of-four was arrested in 2005 in an ecstasy laboratory near Jakarta, which he claims he thought was an acrylics factory where he was installing machinery.
Atlaoui is challenging President Joko Widodo's rejection of clemency at the State Administrative Court – a legal avenue that failed for two Australians -- Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan – who were executed April 29.
