Schapelle Corby gets 5-year sentence cut

22 May 2012, 7:43 pm   -   Source: AAP
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(AAP)

(AAP)

Schapelle Corby has been granted a five-year cut to her prison term, paving the way for her early release.

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Schapelle Corby has been granted a five-year cut to her prison term, paving the way for her early release.

A document confirming that her clemency application had been approved, seen by AAP, was delivered to Kerobokan jail in Bali on Tuesday afternoon.

"Decided: - clemency granted," the letter says.

"(The application) has been considered to have enough reasons to give clemency to the convicted."

The decree, signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on May 15, grants a "sentence cut of five years so that the 20-year sentence given to the convicted is cut to 15 years in jail".

"This presidential decision is ... to be implemented," the document said.

A spokesman for Dr Yudhoyono also confirmed that Corby's clemency application had been approved.

"Yes, it has been signed," the spokesman told AAP.

"It's been approved and delivered to Kerobokan."

Corby, from the Gold Coast, was jailed for 20 years in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in a bodyboard bag.

The 34-year-old has already had almost two years cut from her 20-year sentence for good behaviour in remissions announced each year at Christmas and on Indonesia's Independence Day.

Under Indonesian law, she would be eligible for parole after having served two-thirds of her sentence, meaning that the five-year cut to her prison term could see her released later this year.

It's understood she would have to serve out her parole in Indonesia.

The development comes despite Dr Yudhoyono in the past having been firmly against showing leniency towards people convicted of drug offences.

Corby has also never admitted guilt, which had previously been seen as a major impediment to her chances of winning an early release.

However, her clemency application, lodged in March 2010, was made on the grounds that she was suffering from a mental illness that could endanger her life.

Her family has confirmed she is being treated with anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs.

The president is understood to have been swayed by appeals made by former foreign minister Kevin Rudd and Prime Minister Julia Gillard when she met Dr Yudhoyono in Bali in November.

The case was also recently discussed between Australia's new Foreign Minister Bob Carr and his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa.

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Your Comments

Corby deal

oncewas - from bribie island, 1 year

If we are going to send the convicted people smugglers home to Indonesia why do we bother to process them thru the court system? Why not catch them and send them straight home? They will be back.

Media must treat this criminal case just like any other

Frankly Spealing - from Rowville Needs Railway, 1 year

Don't go overboard with this remission of sentence for a drug dealer. Thousands die from drugs annually. No fanfare needed here! PM and Foreign Ministers have more important work not done. Make no mistake, every Aussie needs representation and help overseas, but there is a limit. She need not be placed on a pedestal by the women's magazines and paid handsomely to promote crime. Let the foreign court preside over her parole. There are other prisoners going blind, mad, etc in jails worldwide!

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