Local prosecutors said they were seeking one-year prison sentences for three British nationals accused of drug offences in Bali, a major reprieve in a country with some of the world’s toughest drug laws.
Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on Feb 1 after being stopped at Bali’s international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly 1kg, according to public court records.
They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and was arrested a few days later in February.
“(Demanding the court) to sentence the defendants to one year in prison and to keep them in detention,” prosecutor Made Dipa Umbara told the district court in Bali’s capital Denpasar on Tuesday.
Umbara said that while the defendants were accused of breaking the law, they behaved well in court, acknowledged their wrongdoings, and pledged not to repeat their mistakes.
The British Foreign Office said it was in touch with local authorities about the case.
The sentence call came as a surprise as Indonesia typically hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling, including the death penalty, and has previously executed foreigners for doing so.
However the country has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017. — AFP
