Families of Two Bali Nine Death Row Convicts Visit Nusakambangan

Senin, 9 Maret 2015 18:26 WIB

Raji Sukumaran (kedua kiri) Ibu dari warga Australia terpidana mati Myuran Sukumaran bersama Chintu Sukumaran (kanan) dan keluarganya antre ketika berkunjung ke Lembaga Pemasyarakatan (Lapas) Kerobokan, Denpasar, Bali, Kamis (26/2). Walaupun pemerint

The families of the Bali Nine ringleaders, accompanied by Majel Hind from the Australian Consulate General, were seen crossing Nusakambangan island aboard a ferry boat.

The visitors included Andrew Chan's mother Helen Chan and brother Michael Chan, Myuran Sukumaran's parents Raji Sukumaran and Sam Sukumaran and sisters Brinta and Chintu Sukumaran.

The boat carrying the two families docked at the Wijayapura pier at around 12.15 P.M. and immediately left in a car that was waiting for them.

Journalists who were waiting at the Wijayapura pier gate to talk to the families about their visit to Besi prison could not approach them as two "bodyguards" and two staff members from the Australian Consulate General stopped them.

The bodyguards and staff members blocked the journalists to allow the car carrying the families to pass.

However, the entourage had to halt when another car came from the opposite direction. This allowed journalists both domestic and foreign to gather around their car again. The families, however, did not speak with the media.

Andrew Chan's brother Michael Chan earlier said that their visit to Nusakambangan was to meet the two death row convicts.

"We believe they will be freed and reunited with their families," he told journalists before crossing to Nusakambangan.

This was the first visit by Chan and Sukumaran's families after the two convicts were moved from Kerobokan prison in Bali to Besi prison in Nusakambangan, Central Java, on March 4.

Sukumaran and Chan were arrested along with seven other Australians when they were attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Sydney, Australia, in 2005. The two are awaiting execution after President Joko Widodo rejected their clemency petitions.