US citizen sentenced to more than nine years for drugs in Bali

Image:  The sentence is meted. Credit: Seminyak Times.

An American man, Ian Andrew Hernandez, 31, was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months in jail at the Denpasar District Court (PN) on Monday after being proven guilty of trafficking drugs in Bali. The verdict was lighter than what the prosecutor’s demanded, which was 14 years in jail.

“The defendant’s crime has sullied Bali’s image as a tourism destination,” said the Head of Denpasar District Court Judges, Kony Hartanto, on Monday. Before reading the verdict, he stated that the defendant was found guilty for possessing, storing, controlling, or providing class I narcotics in form of plants violating Article 112 paragraph 2 of Law No. 35 of 2009 about Narcotics.

The judges also sentenced the Californian man with an Rp1 billion fine which if could not be paid, two months would be added to the sentence.

The case began after a public tip off and the defendant’s house was raided by Denpasar Polres Drug Unit in Kerobokan, North Kuta, on May 23, 2019. When they searched the house, police found 10 small plastic packs containing 6.6 grams of cocaine and a pack with 23.7 grams of marijuana.

After the head judge read the verdict, the defendant’s attorney stated that he accepted it. The Public Prosecutor, Kadek Wahyudi Ardika, also stated that his side accepted the verdict.