Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sent a letter asking the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to pardon Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, a Brazilian sentenced to death for trying to smuggle drugs into that country.
According to Presidential spokesperson, André Singer, in the letter, Lula recognizes the gravity of Archer’s doings but appeals to the Indonesian president’s sense of humanity and the friendship between the two presidents.
On March 17, Moreira, 42, was sentenced to death by firing squad by the Supreme Court of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
The hang-gliding instructor was arrested in Jakarta in August, 2003, with 13 kgs. of cocaine hidden in his hang-glider.
While the Indonesian police inspected his baggage, Archer fled the airport. He was captured two weeks later, hiding in a friend’s house on Sunbawa Island.
Moreira has no other hope but the Indonesian President’s pardon. In recent similar cases, however, the Indonesian government has ignored other governments’ requests for clemency and has executed the foreign prisoners.
Translation: Andréa Alves
Agência Brasil