240 Indonesians Thrown in Australian Prison Receive Compensation
- VIVA.co.id/Arianti Widya
Australia – A total of 240 Indonesian citizens who were thrown into Australian prison received compensation of AUD 27,5 million after being declared free from punishment on charges of people smuggling.
The Chairman of Indonesia International Initiatives, Colin Singer, Senior Lawyer Ken Cush & Associates Caitlin O'Brien, Mark Barrow, an administrator appointed by the Federal Court of Australia, and Sam Tierney, a lawyer from Ken Cush and Partner, revealed this information in Kuta, Denpasar, Bali, on Friday, to the media.
The hundreds of Indonesian citizens in question are former convicts who were previously imprisoned by the Australian Federal Police on charges of human smuggling using boats.
However, their sentences were later declared invalid based on a court decision, as the Indonesians were minors of the punishment, and it was deemed inappropriate to penalize them as adults.
Colin Singer, an Australian justice observer, stated that the AUD 27.5 million was provided by the Australian government following the Federal Court of Australia's decision on December 22, 2023, as compensation for Indonesian children unlawfully detained in immigration facilities and imprisoned as adults
The court regarded the amount as fair and suitable for distribution among the members of the class-action lawsuit. Mark Barrow from Ken Cush & Associates was appointed by the court to manage the compensation distribution scheme to class-action members within a 12-month period.
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- Istimewa
His team has visited Kupang, Rote Island, and Alor in the last three months to process compensation for the group members.
"This is a challenging task because these children are scattered across various islands in Indonesia. They (former detainee children) were released after the Department of Justice decided to return them to Indonesia," Colin explained.
Meanwhile, Sam Tierney explained that most petitioners involved in the class-action lawsuit were detained on Christmas Island or in Darwin, Western Australia, in 2009 and 2012.
They were detained shortly after arriving in Australia on human-smuggling boats.
