Brazilian Citizen's Defense Files New Appeal to Dodge Execution in Indonesia

04/23/2015 - 09h35

The defense of Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte, 42, submitted on Wednesday (22) a new petition to try to prevent the execution of the Brazilian citizen, sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

This time, the strategy is different: instead of making a single requirement - that Rodrigo is not executed - his lawyers have asked the Court of Cilacap (400 km from Jakarta) to regard him as mentally disabled. They wish to delegate his custody to his aunt, Angelita Muxfeldt, who has been in the Indonesian city since February.

Gularte has schizophrenia, which was diagnosed in two different reports - but Indonesia's Attorney General, responsible for executions, does not recognize the disease and keeps the Brazilian on the death list. There is still no date for the execution, which is carried out by a firing squad.

An eventual favorable outcome for Gularte, his defense argues, would help to prove in court to the Attorney General of Indonesia that the Brazilian is indeed disabled.

About a month ago, Attorney General HM Prasetyo said, based on "witnesses" at Pasir Putih prison, where Gularte is being kept, that he is eligible to the execution. "This statement is invalid because ordinary people have no qualifications to testify if someone is sane or has a mental illness. Only a psychiatrist who has experience and skills can do it."

The defense also says that the prosecution is not transparent. In February, a team of psychiatrists, at the request of the Indonesian government, assessed Gularte to see if he had schizophrenia, but the results were never revealed.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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	Arquivo pessoal
	The defense of Rodrigo Gularte wish to delegate his custody to his aunt, Angelita Muxfeldt