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DENPASAR, INDONESIA - THREE men sentenced to death for their role in the 2002 Bali bombings will not ask for a presidential pardon after exhausting the appeal process, a state prosecutor said on Monday.
Bali prosecutor I Dewa Putu Alit Atnyana said the three men had written to him ruling out asking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for clemency, which he said was their only remaining chance to escape execution.
He declined to say when the men would be executed, but said he had requested that it take place away from the Indonesian resort island for 'security reasons.'
'We received the letter on April 10 and it was signed by Amrozi and friends without their lawyers. The letter in essence said that they will not ask for presidential pardon,' Mr Atnyana told reporters.
The three men, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra, face death by firing squad after they were found guilty of involvement in the attack, which killed 202 people on the mostly Hindu island.
Mr Atnyana said his staff had planned to visit the men to discuss their legal options, but cancelled the trip after receiving the letter.
But a lawyer acting for the three men denied that they had exhausted the legal appeal process.
'They have always said that they would not ask for clemency. But what about the appeals? Why has the courts not treat them fairly?' said Fahmi Bachmid.
'The pardon and the appeal are two different matters - they still have the right to an appeal and as far as we know they have not used it, so it is their right to use it.'
Achmad Michdan, heading the three men's legal team, announced last month that his clients would file demands for their cases to be reviewed, arguing that the Bali court had refused to allow them to appear and declined to hear an expert witness for the defence.
The move was the latest in a series of legal twists in the trial of the bombers, who remain defiantly unrepentant over the attacks. -- AFP
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