Jessica Kumala Wongso (centre) smiling on Oct 27, 2016, as she walks with her lawyers after judges found her guilty of murder, at the Central Jakarta Court. - Courtesy of Netflix
JAKARTA: Jessica Kumala Wongso, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the premeditated murder of her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin at a coffee shop in Central Jakarta in 2016, was released on parole on Sunday (Aug 19) after serving eight years in prison.
Jessica's lawyer Otto Hasibuan said her client was released early after receiving an almost-five-year remission for "good behaviour".
Jessica is now required to regularly report to parole officers in a detention centre in East Jakarta until 2032, he added.
Otto went on to say that Jessica planned to file a judicial review over her verdict, claiming that his team had found several new pieces of evidence in the high-profile case.
"We have discussed this matter with Jessica. We respect the court decision [...] but we feel that the verdict did not align with our version of events, so we will try to file a judicial review," he said on Sunday as reported by Kompas.
In October 2016, the Central Jakarta District Court found Jessica guilty of premeditated murder by lacing Mirna's coffee with cyanide. Then 27-year-old Jessica, however, persistently maintained that she was innocent.
Widely referred to as the “cyanide coffee case” because of Mirna’s possible cause of death, the incident created a months-long media circus and drew millions of viewers on national television.
The controversial trial prompted several documentaries as well as public speculation. A Netflix documentary 'Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso' released last year sparked fresh public support for Jessica as it considered her opinion for the first time since her imprisonment.
The movie also sheds light on Indonesia’s "flawed" legal system as it questioned whether the evidence presented against Jessica was enough to put her in jail.
During a press conference after her release, Jessica said she had forgiven those who have wronged her. She also expressed her condolences to Mirna's family.
"Right now I feel relieved. I accept what I had to go through, and I have forgiven everybody. I have no resentment at all," she said, as quoted by Antaranews. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
