About the young Madeiran man detained in Indonesia: The difference between reality, solidarity, states of mind and faith | Funchal News | Madeira News – Information for everyone for everyone!

I don’t know either Rui Óscar or Rui Viana. I just heard about a story about a young Madeiran man who had been arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, with a product suspected to be two kilos of cocaine.

It is worth clarifying three things here:

First, it is not worth dwelling on feelings of “Madeiraness” or “Portugueseness” to, as a poor thing, appeal for clemency. The Indonesian Courts will have their way and decide what is appropriate. The Portuguese State has no right to interfere in Indonesia’s internal legal order.

As far as we know, with Indonesia, the Portuguese State only has signed protocols regarding Timor-Leste; Double Taxation and Prevention of Tax Evasion in Income Taxes; Visa Exemption for Short Stays for Holders of Diplomatic, Service and Special Passports; Economic Cooperation; and Education, Science and Technology, Culture, Tourism, Youth, Sports and Social Communication.

There is also a Global Framework Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and Its Member States, on the one hand, and the Republic of Indonesia, on the other, including the Final Act with declarations.

And it is only within the scope of this Global Agreement within the European Union that the door, in matters of Justice, can be left ajar.

One of the themes of this agreement is justice, with an emphasis on several issues, namely: combating organized international crime and corruption, combating money laundering and illicit drugs.

But even so, the Agreement only enshrines a “comprehensive and balanced approach” to cooperation in the fight against illicit drugs. There is no mutual interference between the EU and Indonesia in the repression of drug trafficking.

What exists is the enshrinement of a generic principle in which the parties undertake to cooperate “on issues related to the development of their respective legal systems, legislation and judicial institutions, including on their effectiveness, in particular through the exchange of views and knowledge and capacity building. Within the scope of their powers and competences, the Parties shall endeavor to provide mutual legal assistance in criminal and extradition matters.”

In matters of legal cooperation, it is also written that “the Parties reaffirm that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole cannot go unpunished and that those who are accused of these crimes must be tried and, if found guilty, duly punished.”

In second place, Indonesia’s criminal legal system provides for life imprisonment and even the death penalty by firing squad for those who traffic drugs. But this is the maximum criminal framework. It is true that Indonesia is one of 33 countries in the world that uses the death penalty for people who commit drug-related crimes.

But it’s not worth speculating, for now, about what the young Madeiran Rui Viana risks. Not long ago, a 19-year-old Brazilian woman was sentenced to 11 years in prison for trying to enter the country with three kilos of cocaine.

In third place, diplomacy is carried out between states. In addition to rules on non-interference in the internal legal order, there are rules on diplomacy and there are Human Rights. Regarding the latter, the appeal can only be to the Right to Life (against the death penalty) enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But little else. Because there are states in the USA that also have the death penalty. And few are indignant against this practice, unless the wave hits their buttocks or those of those close to them.

Furthermore, Madeira’s regional authorities are worth very little in this matter. We can be supportive, subscribe to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, express states of mind and have faith. But nothing more than that.