AGO THREATENS TO EXECUTE BALI BOMBERS IN AUGUST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 010037

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND S/CT
DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON, AAG SCHWARTZ, OPDAT ALEXANDRE
FBI FOR ETTIU/SSA ROTH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2016
TAGS: PTE KISL KVPR PGOV ASEC AS ID
SUBJECT: AGO THREATENS TO EXECUTE BALI BOMBERS IN AUGUST

REF: A. JAKARTA 07343 EXECUTION LOCATION FOR BALI BOMBERS

B. JAKARTA 06393 EXECUTION ORDERS SIGNED

C. 04 JAKARTA 07567 IMPACT OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
RULING

Classified By: Political Officer Adam West for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has announced
August 22 as the date on which the three men sentenced to
death for the 2002 Bali bombings - Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam
Samudra and Ali Gufron alias Muklas - will be executed in
Nusa Kembangan prison. However, the announcement seems
intended more to pressure the lawyers for the three condemned
men than to actually execute them. While Muslim Defense Team
(TPM) lawyers have prepared Judicial Review requests to be
submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the three, they
have delayed submitting them in hopes of avoiding having to
return to Bali for new evidentiary hearings. End Summary

Execution Date Announced
--------------


2. (C) The Attorney General's Office (AGO) recently announced
that August 22 has been selected as the date on which the
three men sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali bombings -
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron alias
Muklas - will be executed in Nusa Kembangan prison (refs A
and B). The announcement was unusual in that it mentions a
specific date well in advance, in apparent violation of the
normal policy of not releasing the timing of executions until
just a few days before. According to Embassy contacts, the
AGO is not actually intending to carry out the executions;
rather, they are attempting to pressure the Muslim Defense
Team attorneys (TPM) to submit the long-awaited requests for
Judicial Review for the three bombers to the Supreme Court.
Although the TPM continues to delay submitting the requests,
the announcement of the execution date last week has
motivated them to take action to delay the executions.

Legal Maneuvering
--------------


3. (C) The TPM has stated repeatedly their intention to
request Judicial Review for the three, but the requests have
yet to be submitted. Our embassy-contracted court monitor
(protect: our court monitor's relationship with the embassy
is not publicly acknowledged) said that the TPM's draft
Judicial Review centers on the Constitutional Court's 2004
decision annulling the retroactive use of the 2003
Anti-Terrorism Law that was used to convict the three bombers
(ref B and C). The TPM will argue that the Constitutional
Court decision constitutes "new evidence" relevant to the
convictions. If the Supreme Court agrees, the convictions
could theoretically be overturned. Although Chief Justice
Bagir Manan stated in 2004 that he is not interested in
overturning the decisions in these cases (ref C),how the
Supreme Court would rule in such a case today is far from
certain.


4. (SBU) If the request for Judicial Review is submitted, the
court of jurisdiction, in this case Denpasar, Bali, would
hear the new evidence as well as the prosecutors' response.
The Bali court would then forward a report to the Supreme
Court for a decision. However, the TPM would prefer to avoid
going back to Bali, where memories of the October 2005
attacks are still fresh and sympathy for their clients
non-existent. As a result the TPM has delayed submission of
the Judicial Review and instead submitted a motion for a
change of venue. The announcement of the execution date last
week was apparently aimed at forcing the TPM's hand.
However, rather than submit the Judicial Review request at
this time, they are preparing to file suit against the AGO to
delay the executions pending resolution of the change of
venue motion. Once they obtain a new venue, so their
strategy goes, they could proceed with the request for
Judicial Review.

Future Uncertain
--------------

JAKARTA 00010037 002 OF 002




5. (C) The TPM strategy is problematic at best. The motion
for change of venue has to be approved by the Bali High
Court, the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Law in order to
become binding. Deputy Bali High Prosecutor Salman Maryadi
told us that the Bali High Court will not approve the
request, although it is not clear when the decision will be
made. The law requires the AGO to make a formal notification
of execution three days prior to the actual event, so if
there is no resolution by August 19, the AGO will have to
either proceed with the executions or find some face-saving
way out. In the end, it seems likely that the three Bali
bombers will be around for a while longer.
PASCOE