By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Indonesia’s attorney-general insisted Wednesday that a Filipina drug convict who was granted a last-minute reprieve from execution could not be released even as her alleged recruiters face trial in the Philippines.
The comments followed a morning meeting between Philippine embassy officials and personnel from the attorney-general’s office in Jakarta.
Attorney-General Mohammad Prasetyo told Detik.com, “I insisted again that it is difficult to grant any request from them [the Philippines] for the release of Mary Jane [Veloso]. Because she has been proven [guilty of] smuggling narcotics into Indonesia."
Veloso, a single mother of two, had been seeking work in Malaysia as a maid when she was arrested while smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport, Java island, in April 2010.
She was spared from Indonesia’s last round of executions that saw eight others put to death April 29, after her allegedly recruiter turned herself in to Philippines police.
Earlier this month, the suspects -- Maria Cristina Sergio and partner Julius Lacanilao – were indicted on charges of illegal recruitment and estafa.
Prasetyo said Wednesday that even if the Philippine trial concluded that Veloso had been a human trafficking victim, it would not overturn the death penalty handed to her in Indonesia.
He added that Veloso might have the option of requesting clemency from President Joko Widodo by using the Philippine trial's ruling as new evidence. The legal move, however, would not immediately cancel her sentencing.
After Wednesday’s meeting, the Philippine embassy officials refused to comment on what had been discussed.
One of the representatives, Department of Justice Assistant Secretary Neil Simon Silva, responded to journalists’ questions about new evidence in the ongoing trafficking case by saying they could not comment “because it is still being discussed by the [Philippine] government."
