https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/394/corbytrial.shtml

Schapelle Corby, the 27-year-old Australian woman whose 20-year sentence for smuggling marijuana into the Indonesian resort of Bali has led to an international uproar in the far South Pacific, will soon be back in court seeking to establish her innocence. In a surprise move, the Denpasar High Court on Bali announced Monday that her trial will be reopened, paving the way for her lawyers to call a dozen witnesses they say can win her freedom.

In an ordeal that became a national soap opera in Australia, the Gold Coast beautician was caught carrying nine pounds of Australian pot in her surfboard bag when she arrived for an October vacation in Bali. Corby proclaimed her innocence, and her defense argued that she was the victim of a drug smuggling operation run by baggage handlers at the Brisbane or Sydney airports. But the Indonesian trial judges did not credit that testimony, instead finding her guilty and sentencing her to 20 years as Australians demanded her freedom and some Indonesian anti-drug activists demanded her execution.

In Bali, Denpasar High Court Chief Judge Gusti Made Lingga ruled that although evidence presented at trial appeared sufficient to convict Corby, the defense had presented "relevant" reasons to reopen the case. If new witnesses could convince the High Court that someone had planted drugs in her bags, she could be acquitted or have her sentence reduced, Linga said.

The new hearing is not a new trial, but will only consider evidence from new witnesses. The same trial judges who convicted Corby in May will hear the evidence, but this time they will not decide guilt or innocence. Instead, they will make a report on the hearing and present it to the High Court, which will render a decision.

While Corby supporters say they have witnesses who will bolster her case that she was set up, whether her defense can provide a witness who can convince the Indonesian courts remains to be seen. Two potential witnesses have named an Australian former prisoner as the owner of the drugs, but he has said he will testify they were not his. Other potential witnesses include Qantas Airlines, Australian airport and Australian customs officials, who could testify to the existence of drug smuggling rings among baggage handlers, but again that evidence is only circumstantial.

The new hearing has not yet been scheduled, but could take place as early as next month, the Indonesian high court said.

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