France has sent Indonesia an official request for the “transfer” of Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2007. The artisan welder from Metz and father of four children has always denied being a drug trafficker.
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France sent Indonesia an official request to “ transfer » of Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2007 for drug trafficking, indicated Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesian Minister in charge of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, this Saturday, December 28.
Serge Atlaoui, 61, was arrested in 2005 at a factory where drugs were discovered outside Jakarta, with authorities accusing him of being a “ chemist “. “ We received an official letter requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui on December 19. The letter was sent on behalf of the French Minister of Justice “, declared the Indonesian minister to AFP. “ As it is the end of the year, we will discuss the contents of the letter in early January “, added Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
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The affair caused a stir inIndonesia where anti-drug legislation is one of the toughest in the world. Initially sentenced to life in prison, Serge Atlaoui saw the Supreme Court increase the sentence, condemning him to the death penalty on appeal.
Pressure from Paris
He was scheduled to be executed alongside eight other convicts in 2015, but was granted a temporary reprieve after Paris intensified pressure, with Indonesian authorities agreeing to let a pending appeal take its course.
At least 530 people in total are on death row in Indonesia, most of them for drug-related cases, according to data from rights group KontraS, based on official figures.
A 39-year-old Filipina, Mary Jane Veloso, arrested in 2010 and also sentenced to the death penalty for drug trafficking, was repatriated to the Philippines in mid-December, after an agreement between the two countries.
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