Visiting the criminal court in Denpasar Bali

Tuesday morning I decided to make a trip to the criminal court in Denpasar to check out the latest on the Bali Nine. I live in Seminyak and there are a couple of ways I can get there. I chose the Sunset Rd, down to Jl. Imam Bonjol, then headed towards Denpasar. At Jl. Teuku Umur I headed round the one-way system to Jl. P.D Sudirman. Parking outside on the street, I walked through the open front gates of the courthouse and through a metal detector. The whole atmosphere was very relaxed and I wondered for a moment if the proceedings were cancelled.

Today is the day when the first of the Bali Nine, young Michael Czugaj, with learn of the prosecution’s sentencing demands. Strolling through to the area next to the courtrooms, I came to a small media scrum round the cell. Michael was inside with Bali Nine enforcer Myuran Sukumaran and a bunch of Indonesians. To get this far I didn’t need to show ID and wasn’t searched.
The 2 cops guarding the cell looked bored out of their minds and the press corps was making frantic calls to their respective newsrooms. I briefly chatted to a young lady from Aceh helping out on the of Austrlalain news organisations. We chatted about the possible sentencing and she told me that maybe the Bali Nine could be transfered back to Australia in future. She said in her opinion this agreement would not be in place for another 5 years. I asked her if the convicted Australians should be given ‘local sentencing guidelines’ when they get home, meaning, if they get ‘life’ should that be 15 years. She said she did not think that was fair at all. The prisoner transfer agreement has not been signed yet.