Though Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed last month, their case still trudges forward as their lawyers push to “reinvigorate” a legal challenge that was still ongoing at the time of their deaths.
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court tossed out a legal challenge that was trying to save the Bali Nine pair because they are no longer alive, but the two Australians’ lawyers are not ready to let it go.
The legal challenge (lodged long before they died) was bringing into question President Joko Widodo’s decision to deny clemency without giving an legitimate reasons, reports News Corp Australia.
“This result is of course convenient for the President and the Attorney General,” attorney Julian McMahon said, as quoted by News Corp.
“I assume the result was a matter of law forced on the Constitutional Court by the executions. If the jurisprudence of that court had been followed my clients would be alive today. It is the most impressive court in the country,” McMahon said.
“But for political gain my clients were wrongly executed by the State and justice is easily put aside when the State kills people with important cases to argue.”
While that may sound like the end of it, McMahon apparently has hope that NGOs and human rights groups who were part of the court action will help pursue the case.
And another lawyer for the Bali Nine pair, Todung Mulya Lubis, says it’s not just about Chan and Sukumaran—there are still more lives at stake.
“We are facing another execution very soon. I think, for the interests of everyone, we need a clear and fair and just law on clemency,” Lubis said, as quoted by News Corp.
According to News Corp, the human rights groups have two weeks to lodge a new action to revise and reinvigorate their case.
Photo: Friends of Myuran Sukumaran Facebook page
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