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Schapelle Corby: Australian drug trafficker freed from Bali jail | Schapelle Corby: Australian drug trafficker freed from Bali jail |
(35 minutes later) | |
Convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby has been released on parole after nine years in prison in Indonesia. | |
Corby was convicted and jailed for 20 years in 2005 for trying to smuggle marijuana into the tourist island. | Corby was convicted and jailed for 20 years in 2005 for trying to smuggle marijuana into the tourist island. |
Her case has attracted intense interest in Australia, with prolonged public debate over her guilt or innocence. | Her case has attracted intense interest in Australia, with prolonged public debate over her guilt or innocence. |
But many in Indonesia saw the former beauty student as a criminal who broke tough drugs laws. | But many in Indonesia saw the former beauty student as a criminal who broke tough drugs laws. |
The 36-year-old has protested her innocence since she was caught entering Bali in 2004 with marijuana hidden in her surfing gear. | |
She was granted parole on Friday in Bali but it was only implemented on Monday. | |
Corby was escorted out of Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison and in to a waiting minibus. Officials said that she would have to complete a few procedural steps before she is finally released. | |
Correspondents say that she is unlikely to be able to return to Australia immediately because she will have to remain in Indonesia until 2017 to fulfil the conditions of her parole. | |
She is expected to stay with her sister Mercedes, who lives in Bali. | She is expected to stay with her sister Mercedes, who lives in Bali. |
Corby had received several remissions throughout her sentence because of good behaviour. Five years was shaved off it in 2012 after an appeal for clemency to the president. | |
Indonesian Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin had announced the parole on Friday, the culmination of a protracted legal process that repeatedly ran into bureaucratic obstacles. | |
While the minister's announcement was welcomed in Australia, it drew criticism from some Indonesian lawmakers and an anti-drugs group, who said it violated anti-drugs laws that are supposed to be stringently enforced. | |
But Mr Syamsuddin said that the granting of that parole was a "right regulated by law". | |
Canberra has supported the parole application since it was lodged in October 2012. | |
"The decision by Indonesia's minister for law and human rights is welcomed," Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Saturday. | |
"I hope that she's now given some privacy as she gets her life back together," Ms Bishop said. |