The Bali Nine were a group of nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The heroin was valued at around A$4 million and was bound for Australia. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death and executed on 29 April 2015. Six other members, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens, were sentenced to life imprisonment and another, Renae Lawrence, to a 20-year sentence but was released after the sentence was commuted in November 2018. The Indonesian authorities reported on 5 June 2018 that Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen had died of stomach cancer.
Renae Lawrence is an Australian woman who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine.
Martin Eric Stephens is an Australian former bartender who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, on his first trip to Bali, Stephens was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar with 3.3 kg (7.3 lb) of heroin taped to his chest and concealed under his clothing. After a criminal trial, on 14 February 2006 Stephens was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the sentence reduced to 10 years was rejected in January 2011.
Matthew James Norman is an Australian man who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Norman was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta together with three others. Police uncovered 334 g (11.8 oz) of heroin in a suitcase in the room. After a criminal trial, on 15 February 2006 Norman was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the sentence reduced suffered a shock when the Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on 6 September 2006. A subsequent appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, following a full confession by Norman to his role in the plan to import heroin from Bali to Australia, resulted in the original sentence of life imprisonment being reinstated.
Nusa Kambangan is an island located in Indonesia, separated by a narrow strait from the south coast of Java. The closest port is Cilacap in Central Java province. It is known as the place where the fabled wijayakusuma, which translates as the 'flower of victory' in the highest literary register of the Javanese language, grows. The wijayakusuma can be used to bring a person back from the dead, and the princes of the Sultanate of Mataram and later the Surakarta Sunanate sent to the island for the blooms in order to become kings. Thus the island is also known as pulau bunga-bungaan, the 'island of many flowers'. There is a forest reserve on the island. One of the main cultural events is Sedekah Laut, which is held by the Surakarta Sunanate every Satu Suro in the Javanese calendar. Since the Dutch colonial period, there have been a number of supermax prisons on the island, some of which are still operational and run by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
Myuran Sukumaran was an Australian who was convicted in Indonesia of drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Sukumaran was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta, Bali with eight others. Police found 334 g (11.8 oz) of heroin in a suitcase in the room. According to court testimonies of convicted drug mules, Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were the co-ringleaders of the heroin-smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia. After a criminal trial, Sukumaran was sentenced on 14 February 2006 by the Denpasar District Court to execution by firing squad.
Scott Anthony Rush is an Australian former labourer who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, on his first trip to Bali, Rush was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar with 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) of heroin concealed on his body. After a criminal trial, on 13 February 2006, Rush was sentenced to life imprisonment. After appealing against the severity of the sentence, in a surprise outcome handed down by the Bali High Court on 6 September 2006, Rush's sentence was changed to the death penalty. On 10 May 2011, Rush's death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court.
Andrew Chan (Chinese: 陳子維; Jyutping: Can4 Zi2 Wai4; 12 January 1984 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian man who was convicted and executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Chan was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. According to court testimonies of convicted drug mules, Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were the co-ringleaders of the heroin smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia. After a criminal trial on 14 February 2006, Chan was sentenced to execution by firing squad by the Denpasar District Court.
Michael William Czugaj is an Australian former glazier from Oxley, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking of heroin as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Czugaj was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar with 1.75 kg (3.9 lb) of heroin concealed on his body. After a criminal trial on 14 February 2006 Czugaj was sentenced to life imprisonment. His life sentence was reduced to a term of 20 years on appeal on 26 April 2006, but reinstated five months later.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen was a Vietnamese–Australian citizen. He was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Nguyen was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta, Bali together with three others. Police uncovered 334 g (11.8 oz) of heroin in a suitcase in the room. After a criminal trial, on 15 February 2006 Nguyen was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the sentence reduced suffered a shock when the Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on 6 September 2006.
Si Yi Chen is an Australian man who was convicted in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Chen was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta, Bali together with three others. Police uncovered 334 g (11.8 oz) of heroin in a suitcase in the room. After a criminal trial, on 15 February 2006 Chen was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the sentence reduced suffered a shock when the Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on 6 September 2006. A subsequent appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, following a full confession by Chen to his role in the plan to import heroin from Bali to Australia, resulted in the original sentence of life imprisonment being reinstated.
Lex Lasry is an Australian lawyer and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 2007 to 2018. He also sat as a reserve judge from 2018 until his retirement as a reserve judge in February 2024.
Kerobokan Penitentiary Institution is a prison located in Kerobokan, Badung Regency, on the Indonesian island of Bali. Located 4 km away from the Canggu village, the prison opened in 1979 and was built to hold 300 inmates. As of 2017, the Kerobokan Prison contains over 1,400 male and female prisoners of various nationalities. More than 90% of the prisoners are Indonesian and 78% were convicted on drug charges. 15,000 rupiah ($1.08) per day is allocated for each prisoner.
Matthew Sleeth is an Australian visual artist and filmmaker. His often collaborative practice incorporates photography, film, sculpture and installation with a particular focus on the aesthetic and conceptual concerns of new media. The performative and photographic nature of media art is regularly highlighted in his work.
Anthony Hayes is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in War Machine, The Light Between Oceans, The Slap, Look Both Ways, The Boys, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Animal Kingdom and soap opera Paradise Beach.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Indonesia.
Julian P McMahon is a Melbourne barrister, who has been the lawyer for Van Tuong Nguyen and members of the Bali Nine. He currently serves as the president of the Capital Punishment Justice Project, an organisation which aims to provide legal representation and humanitarian assistance to those at risk of execution.
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso is a Filipino woman who was arrested in Indonesia for drug trafficking in 2010 and then sentenced to death. Granted a temporary reprieve in 2015, she has remained on death row ever since and consistently protests her innocence to the present day. Her case, among others, aroused international attention and widespread scrutiny of Indonesia's capital punishment and drug prohibition laws.
Mohammad Laica Marzuki is a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, as well as the first Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. During his tenure, Marzuki was one of three of the Constitutional Court's nine members to dissent from the majority opinion that rejected the appeal of Bali Nine members Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. This follows Marzuki's view that the death penalty in general does not deter criminals and violates the Constitution of Indonesia. Marzuki has also expressed the view that the actions of the Attorney General of Indonesia must be subordinate to the decisions of the Constitutional Court, and that actions which conflict with such decisions are illegal under the law of Indonesia.
The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Canberra is the diplomatic mission of Indonesia in Australia, which also doubles as the former's mission to Vanuatu. The current ambassador, Siswo Pramono, took office in October 2021.
