MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2022) Australia has asked Indonesia to ensure that the man convicted of making bombs used in a deadly terrorist attack in Bali in 2002 would be under constant surveillance after his early release from prison, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.
On Wednesday, Umar Patek, the man responsible for the attack that killed 88 Australians in 2002, was paroled in Indonesia after serving 12 years out of a 20-year prison sentence, despite strong objections from the Australian government.
"We have made repeated representations to the Indonesian government about the early release of Umar Patek. We will continue to make repeated representations to the Indonesian government making sure there is constant surveillance of Umar Patek," Marles told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
He described Patek's early release as a "very difficult day" for Australians.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the terrorist's actions were "inexcusable and completely abhorrent."
"We do not control the Indonesian justice system, and that is the way of the world," O'Neil admitted in a statement at the National Press Club in Canberra.
Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 as a key person involved in the terrorist attack on the island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
Under Indonesian law, Patek was facing a death sentence, but this was commuted to life imprisonment and then the sentence was repeatedly reduced, as the 55-year-old repented of his crime and cooperated with the investigation.
On Wednesday, the Indonesian authorities said that they had released Patek on bail, as he had reformed while in prison, and they wanted to use him as an example for other criminals to quit terrorism.
