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French drug smuggler to arrive home after 18 years in Indonesian custody
JAKARTA, July 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Frenchman who served 18 years in
custody for smuggling drugs into Bali was expected to arrive home Sunday
after he was deported in a case that sparked outrage in France over
Indonesia’s tough narcotics laws.
Police arrested Michael Blanc on the day after Christmas in 1999 at the
tropical island’s airport with 3.8 kilogrammes (8.4 pounds) of hashish hidden
inside scuba diving canisters.
The now 45-year-old was originally given a life term — narrowly escaping
the death sentence handed to some other foreign drug traffickers, including
two members of the notorious Bali Nine who were executed in 2015.
Blanc’s prison term was later cut to 20 years and then in 2014 he won
something that few foreigners get in Indonesia — parole.
The former cook arrived at the airport in Jakarta on Saturday escorted by
Indonesian immigration officials, and accompanied by his mother, Helene Le
Touzey, who gave up her life in France to spend nearly two decades in
Indonesia campaigning for his release.
The two departed on a Turkish Airlines flight at 9:00 pm (1400 GMT). They
are expected in Paris on Sunday around 11:00 am.
The life sentence handed out by an Indonesian court, which rejected
Blanc’s claim that he was carrying the drug-filled gear for a friend, was
criticised in France as overly harsh.
Paris raised the issue at the highest levels, with the then-prime minister
Francois Fillon bringing it up during a visit to Indonesia in 2011.
In 2008, Blanc’s sentence was cut to 20 years thanks in large part to his
mother’s efforts.
Le Touzey later helped secure her son’s parole in 2014, despite the fact
that Indonesian law does not usually allow conditional release of foreigners
after serving just two-thirds of their sentence.
Blanc’s three-year parole period ended in July 2017, after which he was
required to finish one year of probation.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws.
More than 70 people, including 42 foreigners, are facing the firing squad
for drug offences, according to the Coalition for the Abolition of Death
Penalty in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
Indonesia has executed several drug traffickers since President Joko
Widodo took office in 2014.
Among them were foreign nationals, including two Bali Nine members
arrested in 2005 for an attempt to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to
Australia.
The executions of Australian ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
sparked diplomatic outrage and a call to abolish Indonesia’s death penalty.
Although Jakarta suspended executions last year, Widodo has said the
country is facing a “drug emergency” and previously ordered police to shoot
traffickers who resist arrest.
High-profile cases like that of Australian national Schapelle Corby, who
spent more than nine years behind bars for smuggling marijuana into Bali,
have stoked concern that Indonesia is becoming a drug destination.
Corby was deported in 2017 after several years of parole.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0932 hrs