Jakarta has announced the imminent execution of 15 detainees. Fr. Siswantoko, Executive Secretary of the Commission, criticizes gaps in the judicial system, which does not guarantee the punishment of the guilty and condemns the innocent: "The death penalty is not a deterrent to drug dealers. Many of them continue to work from behind bars".
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - There is "no valid data or information indicating that the death penalty has reduced or minimized the drug business in Indonesia”, states Fr. Siswantoko, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace. This is one of the reasons why the death penalty must be rejected reaffirms the Indonesian Church, after Jakarta announced that it is imminent execution of 15 detainees.
The priest said that the death penalty will not solve the scourge of drug dealing if the judicial system remains as corrupted as it is now: "What we learn from the press - he says - is that the penalties are not an effective deterrent . We are shocked to learn that some drug lords could conduct its affairs even from behind bars. "
The Transparency International data, updated to 2015, outlines the Indonesian public’s perception of the public sector as highly corrupt, ranking the country 88th place out of 168. More recently, the general secretary of the Jakarta High Court has landed on a case of corruption: He is charged with favoring some suspects in exchange for sums of money.
The Commission for Justice and Peace, said Fr. Siswantoko, has long been active in denouncing executions and ensuring justice for the innocent people who end up on trial because of judicial "errors". He tells the story of Christian, a wheat trader who in 2008 was sentenced to death for drug dealing. For the Commission, which has produced 11 lawyers working pro bono for Christian, the man is a victim of mistaken identity and has been chosen as a scapegoat by the police.
The death penalty must be annulled, the priest says, "because the legal system in Indonesia is rotten. There are no guarantees that the defendants are the people who really should be condemned, because the legal and bureaucratic system is a chain of corruption. "
A few days ago Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo, president of the Bishops Conference (KWI) also addressed the issue. During a seminar at the Catholic Atma Jaya university in Yogyakarta, he reiterated the Church's position that "firmly rejects" the death penalty and defends life from conception to natural death.
Indonesia has one of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world, to fight what President Joko Widodo has called "national emergency." From 1979 to 2015, there have been 66 executions.