SÃO PAULO – Sitting on death row in an Indonesian prison, 50-year-old Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira says a prosecutor asked him, as a joke, what his last wish was going to be. “I want three bottles of Chivas whisky and two girls,” he answered.
Archer would prefer not to have a last wish – he’s hoping Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will help him. “I asked her to save me. She is the only one who can do it”, he told Fohla by telephone.
Arrested in 2003 while entering Indonesia with 13.4 kg of cocaine, Archer was sentenced to death in 2004 – and has worn out all legal recourses available to him in the courts. He is awaiting his death by firing squad at the maximum-security prison of Pasir Putih (“white sand”), 430 kilometers from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
Last week, a prosecutor told a local newspaper that Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had rejected his last appeal for clemency and that Archer would be executed in the following weeks.
He knows that the best thing that could happen to him would be for his death sentence to be commuted to life, which means he would spend the rest of his existence 15,400 km from Brazil. The alternative is death by firing squad.
FOHLA – Eight years after you were sentenced to death, the prosecutor told a newspaper that you would be executed soon. How do you react?
MARCO ARCHER CARDOSO MOREIRA – I…silence. What am I supposed to do?
Has anybody told you about your pending execution?
No. Nobody has told me about it. All I know is what was said in the local press. But a month ago an official came here and made me sign a blank piece of paper.
Did you sign the paper without talking to your lawyer?
I did. But it’s not worth a thing. The embassy lawyer in Jakarta told me that since it was blank, the document had no legal value. Other prisoners also signed blank papers.
Does it worry you? I mean, maybe it has something to do with your execution…
They told me it doesn’t mean anything. The prosecutor joked and asked me what my last wish was. I asked for three bottles of Chivas whisky and two girls. Just kidding!
Are you afraid?
Fear, no… Well, just a little bit. Anyone here might be executed at anytime. But there are lots of people that were arrested before me.. So only God knows who will be next.
Who could help you?
President Dilma. She’s the only person who could help me. She may be able to reduce my sentence to life-imprisonment. I also pleaded with the Indonesian president for his help. He is very powerful.
Do you know how the execution is done?
Two Nigerians were executed here in 2008 – the last two to be executed in Indonesia. The prison chief came and told them that somebody wanted to see them. The police grabbed them and took them away to be shot. One of the Nigerians tried to run away, but it didn’t work.
When were they told about it?
One month before.
Read the original article in Portuguese
Photo – Youtube
