Government asks court to reopen Corby appeal

09:57 AEST Fri Aug 5 2005

The Australian government will deliver a letter to Indonesia's High Court in its efforts to support a bid by Schapelle Corby's lawyers to have her appeal against a drug smuggling conviction reopened a second time.

It follows a meeting on Thursday between Justice Minister Chris Ellison and Corby's lawyers, including her chief counsel Hotman Paris Hutapea, which was aimed at restoring relations between the lawyers and the Australian government.

Mr. Hutapea has been scathing of what he says is a lack of help from the Australian government and the public in proving Corby's innocence.

Senator Ellison's office will tell the court, the Australian government can facilitate video link conferencing which will allow new evidence to be heard from witnesses in Australia.

"(Mr. Hutapea) has asked us to write a letter indicating that we can provide this facility and we've done that," Senator Ellison told the Nine network.

"That will be delivered to the High Court today."

At a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Senator Ellison raised the issue of mutual assistance which would allow specific witnesses immunity from prosecution if they testified in Indonesia.

"(Mr. Hutapea) has indicated he has approached the Indonesian government for mutual assistance," he said.

"Unfortunately it is late in the piece - but nonetheless, we will give it a try and see how things go.

"I think the meeting was worthwhile and I said to Mr. Hutapea we stand ready to assist as always within the bounds of the law ... we just want to make sure that everything possible is done for the appeal".

Senator Ellison could not say whether the Indonesian government was likely to grant the request for mutual assistance.

"Mr. Hutapea forwarded his request only a few days ago and it's still very early in the piece," he said.

"Our officials need to work through things with Indonesian officials and they'll be doing that, so it's too early to say."

Corby was convicted in May of drugs smuggling charges but she claims someone else stashed 4.1kg of marijuana in her luggage after she had checked in at Brisbane airport for a flight via Sydney to Bali last October.

Senator Ellison said he also talked with the Indonesians about work on a prisoner transfer arrangement, which could allow Australians such as Corby or members of the so-called Bali Nine to serve part of their sentence in Australia, if convicted in Indonesia.

"(The Indonesian justice minister) is certainly very supportive of moving that along," Senator Ellison said.

"It won't happen quickly but one thing I was assured of ... (they) are right behind progressing this as fast as possible."

17:23 AEST Fri Aug 12 2005

Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyer has demanded Prime Minister John Howard sack Chris Ellison, accusing the justice minister of failing to help his client and using her legal travails to boost his political ambitions.

Corby's lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said in a nine-page letter to Mr. Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, that Senator Ellison was just pretending to help the 28-year-old.

"Christopher Ellison has made a false statement and just pretends to help Ms Corby, although in fact only for public consumption and lip service to the Australian public," he wrote.

Relations between the two men plunged to a new low earlier this month after a meeting in Jakarta meant to patch up differences over the level of government assistance to Corby.

Hutapea accused Senator Ellison of being a liar after the minister claimed the flamboyant lawyer had been blocked from trying to carry a pistol into the meeting at a Jakarta hotel.

The minister described Hutapea as difficult and said the fact he tried to carry a gun into the talks demonstrated a lot about his character.

But Senator Ellison agreed to write to the Bali High Court to support a request by Hutapea to have Corby's trial reopened for a second time to hear evidence from witnesses in Australia by video link.

In the letter, Hotman detailed the defence team's record and accused Senator Ellison of making "many false statements which try to damaging (sic) team lawyer reputation".

Hutapea has also written to Indonesia's highest court to request help in reopening the Corby trial.