6 hours Ago By RFI
Indonesia and France will sign an agreement on Friday for the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row since 2007 for alleged drug offences, a senior Indonesian minister has said. Serge Atlaoui, who was jailed in Indonesia in 2005, is expected to return to France on 5 or 6 February, the senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said. Atlaoui, a 51-year-old father of four, was arrested near Jakarta in 2005 in a secret laboratory capable of producing 100 kg of ecstasy per week.
He was working there as a chemist. He was sentenced to death two years later – the only one of the nine arrested to receive the death sentence. He has long maintained his innocence, saying he thought he was working in an acrylics factory.
In 2015, Atlaoui was about to be executed with seven other foreign prisoners but was granted a last-minute reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure. An Indonesian court then rejected his appeal against the death sentence, leaving him with no other legal options. Minister Yusril will sign the repatriation agreement with the French Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin via video teleconference on Friday, said Yusril.
Atlaoui is currently suffering from an illness in a Jakarta prison and receives weekly treatment at a hospital. Paris submitted an official request for his transfer last month. "After the transfer, all depends on the French government, whether they want to give him clemency or giving sentences according to the French law," he added.
Read more on RFI English Read also: France condemns Indonesia executions, mobilised for Atlaoui France asks Indonesia repatriation of death row inmate Sergei Atlaoui Indonesian court commutes French drug smuggler's death sentence.
