Asia-Pacific

Indonesia may delay execution of ‘mentally-ill’ Brazilian convict

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Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla says the execution of a convicted Brazilian drug smuggler could be postponed, if he is proved to be mentally ill.

“If he has a certain illness, he has to be treated first, let alone mental illness,” the Media Indonesia daily quoted the vice president as saying on Tuesday.

Brazilian national Rodrigo Gularte, 42, (pictured below) was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for smuggling cocaine into Indonesia and is among 11 death-row prisoners who are expected to be executed this month.

Inmates who are set to be executed include two Australians and one each from the Philippines, France, Nigeria, Indonesia and Ghana.

Last year, Gularte’s family managed to file a request for a thorough examination of his mental health with the help of the Brazilian embassy in Jakarta.

Eventually, the offender’s family appealed for a pardon on the grounds that he had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, who is delusional with psychotic tendencies.

However, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has warned that nothing can derail the planned execution of the 11 convicts, calling on foreign countries not to intervene in the Asian country’s internal affairs.

Six of them were executed in January.

Indonesia’s Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said on February 27 that Jakarta may go ahead with plans to execute the Brazilian drug smuggler despite claims by the convict’s family that he is suffering from schizophrenia.

“We are seeking a second opinion from an independent doctor because the one who certified him as mentally ill was a doctor appointed by his lawyers,” Prasetyo said.

He added that Gularte could still face execution under the country’s law regardless of his current health condition.

Attorney General spokesman Tony Spontana said on Monday the inmates would be transferred to the Nusakambangan island prison complex off Java this week, where they are due to be shot. He, however, did not give a precise date for the executions.

Indonesia is also currently engaged in a standoff with Australia over the execution plan of Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, who were arrested in 2005 on charges of smuggling 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of the Indonesian resort island of Bali into Australia.

Australia says the two convicts should be spared on the grounds that they have been fully rehabilitated.

More than 138 people are on death row in Indonesia mostly for drug crimes. Drug offenders face harsh punishments including the death penalty in the country. About a third of the convicted are foreigners.

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