TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan said that Indonesia has rejected extradition request from the Russian federation government. In a meeting between President Jokowi and the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai P. Patrushev, Russia has asked Indonesia to extradite six Russian citizens arrested in Indonesia.
“There is actually six Russian detained in Indonesia, one of them is a drug dealer. They want extradition, but legally we can not extradite them,” said Luhut Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Luhut said that Indonesia can not meet the request because Indonesia has no extradition agreement with Russia. However, Indonesia is willing to provide information regarding the Russian citizens arrested in Indonesia.
Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said that extradition could be done if Indonesia has had established the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA). According to him, Russia has submitted the MLA draft and it would be discussed by the Indonesian government.
“A team from the Law and Human Rights Ministry, Political, Law and Security Affairs Ministry and the National Police will be discussing it. Thereafter, we expect that a memorandum of understanding would be signed if we visit Russia,” he said.
Yasonna said that the steps towards extradition must be initiated by signing a memorandum of understanding, followed by a cooperation agreement and signing of a treaty on extradition. “The agreements must be ratified to realize the extradition,” he said.
Another option, said Yasonna, is sentence implementation in Russia. However, the mechanism could only be done if Indonesia has a law on transfer of sentenced person. “It had been requested by Iran and Australia before. But there’s no such law in Indonesia yet,” he said
ANANDA TERESIA
