People smuggling charges dropped

COMMONWEALTH prosecutors have dropped charges against four Indonesian boat crew, including two teenagers, accused of smuggling asylum seekers into Australia.

Four discontinuances were filed in the Victorian County Court today for charges of aggravated people smuggling against Teos Adu, 38, Rajiun Chayudin, and Udin and Arifin, both 20.
That brings to eight the number of Indonesian crew to have people smuggling charges against them dropped in Victoria, while another two men were acquitted of the charges by a jury earlier this month.
The acquittals came after "defence lawyers successfully argued that crew cannot be convicted where there is no evidence that they knew their destination was Australia", Victoria Legal Aid said in a statement.
Mr Udin and Mr Arifin were 18-year-old fisherman when they were intercepted near Ashmore Island aboard the SIEV 222 in December 2010 with 53 passengers on board.
They were to stand trial next year.
Mr Adu and Mr Chayudin had been charged along with another two crew after being intercepted aboard the SIEV 173 in July 2010.
Mr Chayudin, the captain, and Mr Adu, who believed he was recruited to unload cargo in Java, were held in detention for nine months without charge after the sinking boat was rescued by the Royal Australian Navy in international waters with 82 Afghani passengers on board, VLA said.
There were still 46 Indonesian boat crew facing prosecution in Melbourne, the VLA said.
Last week another captain, Jefri Siregar, pleaded guilty to aggravated people smuggling after charges against his two co-accused were dropped.
VLA said the 10 men who were either acquitted or had charges dropped were impoverished fisherman and farmers recruited as boat crew by people smuggling organisers.
They said the men were detained without charge for between six and 10 months and had spent more than two years in custody.

heraldsun.com.au 13 Aug 2012

It is not the successful arguing of a lawyer, but rather the strict adherence to government policy to keep bringing in the (cheap labour offered by) boat people, that judgement is made.

The benefits are significant to both government and businesses to bring in the slave labour the boat people have to offer.

This also sends out the message that one will not get prosecuted if caught by the Australian authorities.

All of these 'results' are part of the globalisation agenda, that is touted by authorities as beneficial to the community, which it is not, but rather of pure financial gain to the corporatocracy.