Bali drug trial of three Brits facing death penalty begins
DENPASAR: The trial of three British nationals accused of smuggling cocaine or taking part in a drug deal on Indonesia's popular island of Bali began Tuesday, with all facing the death penalty in a nation with some of the world's toughest narcotics laws.
Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017.
Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali's international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly a kilogramme, according to public court records.
They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and arrested a few days later.
The heaviest punishment for taking part in a drug transaction is also the death penalty under Indonesian law.
An AFP journalist at the court said the hearing began Tuesday. A verdict was not expected until a later date.
The British embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's administration has moved in recent months to repatriate several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offences, back to their home countries.
Frenchman Serge Atlaoui returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed a deal to repatriate him on 'humanitarian grounds' because he was ill.
In December, Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso off death row and returned her to the Philippines.
It also sent the five remaining members of the 'Bali Nine' drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, back to Australia.
According to Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, before Veloso's release.
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