REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- The Denpasar District Court in Bali Province has sentenced a 32-year old American to five years in prison and fined him Rp1 billion or face another three months in jail for drug abuse and prison escape. "The defendant has lawfully and convincingly abused drugs in breach of article 113 sub-article 1 of Law No. 25 of 2009," Ida Ayu Nyoman Adnyadewi, who presided over a panel of judges said at the Denpasar District Court on Monday.

The sentence was lighter than the 10-year sentence and Rp1 billion fine, or face another six months in jail, sought by the public prosecutor.

In response, the public prosecutor, Raka Arimbawa said he will consider the verdict.

Earlier, when the defendant, identified as Christian Beasley, listened to the verdict, he filed a request to remove him from the Kerobokan correctional facility which he considered uncomfortable.

However, the panel of judges said they have no authority to decide the request.

The defendant, who was accompanied by his lawyer said he will take into account the verdict before accepting it.

Beasley, who has been charged with possessing 5.17 grams of hashish, was found escaping the Kerobokan correctional facility, along with his compatriot, Paul Anthony Hofman on December 11 last year.

Hofman was sentenced to 18 months in prison in June 2017 for robbing a number of mini markets in Kuta and Sanur, Bali.

The police caught Beasley in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province, on December 15, 2017.

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