Image: Baggage claim at Denpasar Airport. Credit: ST
A woman from Belarus, Hanna Liakhava (25) was sentenced to eight months in prison yesterday after being proven to carry 0.1 grams of marijuana from Spain to Denpasar. Both Hanna and the prosecution, accepted the verdict.
The woman, who worked as a photographer, received a reduction to her sentence of four months from what public prosecutor I Gede Raka Arimbawa had pursued, which was one year in prison.
After reading the verdict, Judge Novita gave an equal opportunity to both the Prosecutor and Hanna, who was accompanied by her legal advisor, Gusti Krisna Putra Satria, to respond to the verdict.
Hanna, after hearing the advice from Krisna, seemed to have no choice but to accept the verdict.
“Thank you, Your Honour, we accept,” Krisna said.
The same thing was also conveyed by prosecutor Raka.
Outside the courtroom, Hanna could not hold back her tears. Along the way to the Kejari detention cell before being taken to the Denpasar Lapas, she appeared several times wiping away the tears with her hand.
The crime took place on October 14, 2018 around 1.45 am when Hanna arrived to Denpasar Airport from Shanghai and Hanna’s luggage was passed through the X-ray machine.
“At that time, Ngurah Rai Customs officers saw that the woman’s movements were very suspicious like a nervous person,” said Prosecutor Arimbawa.
Suspicious of her gestures, the officer then conducted an in-depth examination of the suitcase that the woman was carrying. Officers found a small plastic clip containing pieces of brownish green leaves suspected to be marijuana stored in two small tubes.
According to Hanna the marijuana was used when she was in Spain. “The brownish green leaf weighed 0.10 grams. The woman was then submitted to the Bali Regional Police for further processing,” said Prosecutor Raka.
