Australia will send prisoner to testify in Bali drug trial
SYDNEY, Australia: An Australian prisoner will be sent to Indonesia as a key witness in the drug-smuggling trial of a 27-year-old Australian beauty student who maintains she is innocent but faces a possible death penalty, the justice minister said Friday.
Schapelle Corby, a student beautician from Australia's Queensland state, was arrested on Indonesia's Bali island in October after airport authorities found 4.1 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana in her surfboard bag as she arrived for a family holiday.
Throughout the case -- which has received widespread media attention in Australia -- Corby has maintained her innocence, claiming the drugs were planted.
She faces the death penalty if convicted of drug trafficking.
Last week, Corby's lawyers successfully had her trial adjourned until this week, after an Australian prison inmate, John Ford, backed Corby's argument that the drugs were planted during a bungled domestic drug trafficking operation.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Friday that the Indonesian government had contacted his office to request that the inmate be sent to Bali as a witness in Corby's defense.
Her lawyers say the drugs were planted by baggage handlers in the eastern city of Brisbane, where Corby boarded the plane, and were meant to be removed by handlers in Sydney, where an unsuspecting Corby transferred to an Indonesia-bound flight.
But the drugs were never picked up, the lawyers say, leaving Corby holding the bag.
Ford is expected to testify that he overheard two other Australian inmates talking about the failed drug transfer from Brisbane to Sydney -- testimony that lawyers say will corroborate Corby's claim that she had no knowledge of how the drugs came to be in her bag.
Ellison said the Indonesian judged hearing Corby's case had given the defense team until April 7 to bring the prisoner to Bali.
"We will now deal with this very quickly and will aim to have the prisoner in Victoria in Bali by, hopefully, Tuesday,'' Ellison told Sydney's radio 2UE on Friday.
The justice minister declined to speculate on what evidence Ford would provide or how successful he was likely to be in securing Corby's release, but did say Australia would appeal the case if Corby were found guilty.
"Certainly when we have any Australian who's being sentenced and the penalty is capital punishment, we certainly make representation,'' Ellison said, adding that it was "a matter of policy'' for Australia to help its citizens facing a death sentence.--AP
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