Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Institution, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said the process of returning drugs convict Mary Jane Veloso to the Philippines will be carried out in December 2024.
“It is expected that the repatriation of Mary Jane Veloso will be carried out in December 2024,” Yusril said in a media statement on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 as reported by cnnindonesia.com.
He said that he had received a request from Philippine Justice Minister Jesus Crispin Remulla for the transfer of Mary Jane back to the Philippines.
He added that the request had also been discussed with Philippine Ambassador in Jakarta, Gina A. Jamoralin.
“We have discussed everything internally under the coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Institution. We have also reported the case to President Prabowo who has approved this transfer of prisoner policy,” Yusril said.
Although it has been approved by President Prabowo, Yusril emphasized that the transfer of Mary Jane can only be carried out if the conditions set by the Indonesian government are met by the Philippine government, including the prerequisite for the Philippine government to recognize and respect the final verdict of the Indonesian court that has punished its citizen for having committed criminal acts in Indonesia and that she must serve the rest of the sentence convicted by the Indonesian court when she is back in her country of origin.
Yusril said further that once Mary Jane is repatriated, the counsel authority of her will be handed over to the Philippine government.
“Upon returning back home and serving her sentence there, the authority to take care of the prisoner will be transferred to the Philippine authority,” he said.
Therefore, Yusril said, it is possible for Mary Jane to be freed from the death penalty if Philippine President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr granted her a clemency as the criminal law in the Philippines has abolished the death penalty.
“It is possible that President Marcos will grant clemency and change his sentence to a life sentence. It is the full authority of the President of the Philippines to decide,” he added.
Decade of diplomacy
As reported by kompas.com, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed that Mary Jane’s repatriation plan was the result of more than a decade of diplomacy.
Mary Jane was arrested at Adisutjipto Airport, Yogyakarta, in April 2010 after Customs officers found 2.6 kilograms of heroin in the suitcase she was carrying. In October 2010, judges of the Sleman District Court sentenced her to death. The verdict was more severe than the prosecutor’s demand of life imprisonment.
Mary Jane was scheduled to be executed in Nusakambangan, Central Java, on April 29, 2015. However, the execution was postponed at the last minute after Maria Cristina Sergio, the person who allegedly recruited her, surrendered to the Philippine police the day before the execution.
Then President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said at that time that the execution was postponed due to a human trafficking case involving Mary Jane.
“There is a letter from the Philippine Government telling that Mary Jane was victim of human trafficking. It’s postponement, not cancellation,” Jokowi said.
