Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby is eligible to file for parole next month, after receiving another six-month remission of her jail term, Indonesian officials said on Friday.
Corby, who received a 20-year jail sentence in 2005 for smuggling 4.1 kilos of marijuana into the holiday island of Bali, was given a six-month remission as part of Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations on Friday, justice minister Amir Syamsuddin said.
“The Justice and Human Rights ministry has approved a six-month sentence cut for Corby today,” the minister told AFP.
Corby has received several remissions that are given out annually to prisoners for good behaviour, including five years of jail time slashed in May after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono approved her request for clemency.
I Gusti Ngurah Wiratna, head of Bali's Kerobokan prison where Corby is imprisoned, said that Corby would be eligible to file for parole next month.
“With the six-month cut Corby will have served two-thirds of her sentence by September. That is a condition to file for parole,” he told AFP, adding that his office would help submit the request to the justice ministry.
“As far as I know, there is no significant obstacle for her to file for parole. Everything is running well. But it's the Justice ministry which will decide whether or not she will be released on parole,” he said.
If the ministry approves the request, Corby will still have to remain in the country until completing her sentence, Wiratna added. - AFP