The panel of judges must be very careful to impose death penalty."Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Indonesia still needs to impose death penalty on those involved in extraordinary crimes, but the panel of judges must decide the verdict very carefully, according to former Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan.
"The panel of judges must be very careful to impose death penalty," Manan, who is currently the Indonesian Press Council Chairman, noted here on Thursday.
Speaking at a journalistic training here, he affirmed that several countries, including the Netherlands, have removed capital punishment from their judicial system.
Indonesia, however, still needs to impose capital punishment to deal with criminals who get involved in extraordinary crimes. While imposing this capital punishment, the verdict should be decided very carefully, he emphasized.
In law, there is a wise saying that it is better to free a person found guilty than sentence the one who is innocent or not found guilty, Manan recalled.
If the panel of judges is uncertain, they are recommended to not impose maximum penalty, including on those involved in drug-related cases.
Indonesia again executed eight of the nine drug convicts on death row simultaneously on Wednesday, at 0:25 a.m. local time, on the island of Nusakambangang, off southern Central Java.
The eight drug convicts were Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from Australia; Zainal Abidin from Indonesia; Martin Anderson alias Belo from Ghana; Rodrigo Gularte from Brazil; Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise alias Mustofa, Okwudili Oyatanze, and Raheem Agbaje Salami from Nigeria.
However, the execution of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso from the Philippines has been postponed. As per information obtained from Nusakambangan, Mary Jane will be sent back to Yogyakarta.
(Reported by Helti Marini Sipayung/Uu.R013/INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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