Convicted Australian Smuggler Wins Parole in Indonesia

Feb. 7, 2014 5:19 a.m. ET

Convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, at the Kerobokan Prison in Bali in April 2008. Ms. Corby was paroled on Friday. AFP/Getty Images

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Australian Schapelle Corby, who in 2005 was convicted of drug smuggling in Indonesia despite claiming to be an innocent tourist, was paroled Friday, bringing a story that has gripped Australians one step closer to an ending.
“Schapelle Corby is among the 1,291 [people] who received parole,” Amir Syamsuddin, Indonesia’s justice minister, said Friday.
He declined to comment on when Ms. Corby can leave Bali’s Kerobokan Prison and when she can return to Australia.
“No special treatment,” Mr. Syamsuddin said. “We’re upholding the law, which gives right [for convicts] to receive parole. It’s our duty to give that right for those who already met the requirements and [completed the] process.”
Ms. Corby, now 36 years old, has served nearly half of her 20-year sentence. She was found guilty in 2005 of possessing 4.1 kilograms (about 9 pounds) of marijuana inside her boogie-board bag at Bali’s airport. Ms. Corby’s lawyers said the drug was planted by baggage handlers who were part of a trafficking ring in Australia’s airports.
Ms. Corby became an Australian law-and-order celebrity. She was seen as the embodiment of the many Australian holidaymakers who flock to Bali for cheap vacations, which made her case resonate strongly at home. Bali is about 2,600 kilometers from Australia’s westernmost city of Perth.
According to Indonesian government data, the number of Australians visiting Bali increased to 799,897 in 2012 from 267,336 in 2004.
Ms. Corby’s saga still rattles some Australians who believe she was caught up in a holiday-turned-nightmare. It is common, nearly a decade after Ms. Corby’s arrest, to see Australians headed to Bali with their bags covered in security wrapping to prevent what they refer to as the “Corby experience.”
Once released on parole, she is expected to live in Bali with her sister, whom she was on her way to visit in 2004 when she was arrested.
She has received sentence reductions for good behavior and a five-year clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2012.
Ms. Corby has been the subject of intense media attention. Her seven-month trial in Denpasar in 2005 was covered live on Australian television. Australian tourists arrived at the court in minibuses, many dressed in Balinese beer singlets and flip-flops, to watch out for “our Schapelle.”
On Friday, about 60 foreign and local journalists attended the justice minister’s news conference in Jakarta, while about 70 others waited at the prison in Bali.
In Australia, celebrity agents predict she can fetch up to 3 million Australian dollars (US$2.6 million) to tell her story.
Write to Andreas Ismar at andreasismar.sandiwan@wsj.com

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