Corby finally walks free under parole

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUTA - Schapelle Leigh Corby, finally walked free under a parole on Monday morning from her jail in Bali where she had spent two third of her prison term for drug smuggling.

Corby (36 years) from Queensland, Australia, walked out of Kerobokan prison in Denpasar at 08.00 western local time under heavy police guard .

Corby was sent to jail by an Indonesian court in 2005 for 20 years after her arrest in 2004, but she had received sentence cuts reducing her jail term to 15 years.

The parole release of Corby had been widely criticized with the government accused of bowing to pressure from Australia. The government defended its decision saying the release was not because of any pressure or a generosity of the government, but "it is because of Corby's right."

Corby is one of 1,291 inmates whose parole had been processed, Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said last weekend.

"I do not want to speak specifically abour Schapelle. What I want to say is that this conditional parole is not a policy, not a generosity of the government . It is a law that is regulated and enacted by the government," Syamsuddin said.

Drug trafficking is categorized as extraordinary crime in Indonesia like terrorism and corruption. On Sunday the National Movement Against Narcotics (Granat) strongly protested the parole regardless of the right. Crimes committed by Corby or other drug convicts were a threat to the safety of the nation, the movement chairman senior lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat said.