Lawyers for a New Zealander who could face the death penalty in Indonesia will use a novel defence – they will argue he is a trafficked person rather than a drug trafficker.
Antony de Malmanche, 52, was arrested at Bali’s international airport on 1 December with 1.7kg of methamphetamine in his bag.
Six death row inmates were put to death in Indonesia on Sunday as part of president Joko Widodo’s determination to stop drug crime.
Barrister Craig Tuck, who is representing de Malmanche, is set to use a groundbreaking defence when the trial begins, probably next month.
He has formed a specialist team of human rights and legal experts from Indonesia and elsewhere to demonstrate that de Malmanche is a victim of human trafficking.
At present, international criminal law recognises human trafficking for the purposes of slavery, forced labour, sex and organ donation.
Tuck’s team will argue the business model of international drug rings, whereby vulnerable people such as de Malmanche are duped into carrying drugs, is human trafficking for the purpose of drug trafficking.
An invalid pensioner, de Malmanche said he took his first overseas trip to Hong Kong to meet “Jessie”, a woman he met online.
After three days there, he said an African man de Malmanche knew as Jessie’s personal assistant, “Larry”, instructed him to catch a bus to Guangzhou, China, where he would finally meet Jessie.
But in Guangzhou, he said he met only Larry, who told him Jessie had visa problems and would see him in Bali instead.
Before he left, de Malmanche said, Larry bought and packed the bag that got him intercepted by customs in Bali, unaware he was carrying drugs.
Tuck said de Malmanche – who spent more than three years in institutional care as a child and still suffers pain from physical injuries and abuse – “was not exploiting the Indonesian people but was himself exploited”.
