Schapelle Corby can expect parole recommendation within weeks

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/schapelle-corby-parole-recommendation-within-weeks

Version 0 of 1.

Prison authorities in Indonesia say they are likely to make a final recommendation on Schapelle Corby's parole application within weeks.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Corrections Department, Ayub Suratman, has confirmed Corby's case is set to be heard before the end of the month, paving the way for the 36-year-old's release, more than nine years after she was jailed for drug smuggling.

The hearing would be held behind closed doors in Jakarta, after which a recommendation will be sent to the justice minister, Amir Syamsuddin, for final approval.

Corby will not be present at the hearing.

"We're trying to make it this month," Ayub said on Tuesday.

"Basically, it's only the recommendation that we still have to submit to the minister."

The convicted drug smuggler has already been issued with a new passport and has been given written approval from the Indonesian Immigration Department to be released into the community to serve out her sentence.

Syamsuddin has already said publicly he could see no reason why Corby's parole bid should be rejected, so the hearing looms as the last major obstacle to her release from Kerobokan jail.

"As long as she fulfils requirements in its regulation and has finished her obligation, and didn't break any rules, no one can prevent her to get her parole," Syamsuddin said in October.

Syamsuddin also insisted the decision would not be affected by critics in Indonesia, including anti-drug activists and politicians who are opposed to Corby being granted leniency.

"About this Corby thing, I always become the target of critics," he said at the time. "But I couldn't prevent someone from getting their rights just because I'm afraid of critics. That can't be happening."

Corby, caught in 2004 attempting to smuggle more than four kilograms of marijuana into Bali in a bodyboard bag, had her 20-year sentence reduced by five years in 2013 after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono granted her clemency on humanitarian grounds.

The former Gold Coast beautician would have to serve her parole in Bali, where she would live with her sister Mercedes and brother-in-law, Wayan Widyartha, in Kuta.