FRENCHMAN GETS LIFE SENTENCE FOR DRUG SMUGGLING

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The Denpasar District Court handed down on Thursday a
life sentence to a French national for smuggling 3.85 kilograms of hashish
onto Bali island last December.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for the defendant, who was a cook
in his hometown.

Michael Loic Blanc, the 27-year-old defendant (not 32 years as earlier
reported), looked helpless after the verdict was read.

His parents and court security pressed around him and escorted him out ofthe
court after the verdict.

According to the panel of judges, presided over by Ni Nyoman Mariati, Blanc
was arrested by Ngurah Rai International Airport security officers onDec. 26
of last year for carrying 3.85 kilograms of hashish.

Blanc, who arrived at the airport on a tourist visa, flew on Garuda
Indonesia from India via Bangkok.

"He arrived at 3:25 p.m. local time and the X-Ray scanner picked up two
scuba tanks in one of his cases. The security officers found that the tanks
were empty of oxygen, and in the presence of the defendant, the officers
opened the steel bottles and found 189 small rolls and 178 packets of
hashish weighing 3.85 kilograms," the judge said.

Blanc had planned to sell the illegal drug in Bali, judge Mariati said. "The
defendant violated Paragraph 1 of Article 82 of the Law No. 22/1997 ondrugs
and psychotropics."

It took one hour for the panel of judges, consisting of Mariati, IB
Dwiantara and Tjokorda Rai Suamba, to take turns reading the verdict.

In the trial which lasted from 12:15 noon to 13:50 p.m. the defendant was
accompanied by interpreter, Jean Cauteau.

Blanc's parents, who were among the visitors, were distraught over the
verdict. His mother, Ellen Blanc tried to confront one of the judges
beforeone of the lawyers calmed her down.

"I think it was a normal reaction for parents who care deeply for their son.
The only thing we want is justice for our son, and I don't think that the
verdict reflects justice that our son is entitled to," Jean Claude Blanc,
the defendant's father said.

In the previous hearing Blanc said that the scuba tanks belonged to Philip,
a friend living in Bombay, India.

He told the police that he had spent 15 days there before flying to Bali.He
also claimed to have used the tanks for diving several times in India, and
that he knew nothing about the hashish.

The defendant's attorneys, Dwi Surya Hadi Budi and Ferdinandus said they
would appeal the verdict, while prosecutors Djiwi Arsih and Anak Agung
GedeSatya M, who had asked the court for the death penalty, said they were
still uncertain whether or not they would appeal.