Indonesia is preparing to repatriate a French national on Tuesday who has been on death row for two decades due to drug-related offenses, according to a senior government official. This move is part of a broader trend of Jakarta sending long-term prisoners back to their home countries in recent months.
Serge Atlaoui, who received a death sentence for his role as a chemist in an ecstasy production facility, will leave Jakarta accompanied by French officials who have been in the city since Saturday, as stated by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the minister of law and human rights.
“The transfer is scheduled for February 4, as agreed with the French government,” he communicated via text message on Tuesday.
The decision to repatriate Atlaoui was made on “humanitarian” grounds due to his cancer diagnosis, Yusril noted, following a formal agreement between the two nations last month.
The ecstasy factory in Jakarta was reported to have the capacity to produce 100 kg (220.46 lb) of illegal pills weekly.
Atlaoui has been imprisoned in Indonesia since 2005 and has consistently claimed his innocence, asserting that he believed he was employed in an acrylics factory.
In 2015, he was on the verge of execution alongside seven other foreign inmates but received a last-minute stay. An Indonesian court subsequently denied his appeal against the death sentence, leaving him without further legal recourse.
Upon his return, France will determine Atlaoui’s legal status, with the maximum penalty for a similar offense under French law being 30 years in prison, according to Yusril.
Atlaoui’s repatriation follows the December return of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino mother of two who was sentenced to death in 2010 for drug trafficking in Indonesia.
Additionally, in December, Indonesia repatriated the last five members of the “Bali Nine,” an Australian drug syndicate, to serve their sentences in Australia.
