The remaining five members of the Bali Nine have returned to Australia after spending two decades in an Indonesian prison for their roles in a botched drug smuggling operation.
Australians Scott Rush, Matthew Norman, Si-Yi Chen, Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj were serving life sentences in Indonesia for their roles in the 2005 smuggling plot.
The two ringleaders of the plot, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015; Renae Lawrence’s 20-year sentence was commuted in 2018 and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of stomach cancer in that same year.
The men arrived in Australia earlier today and have been provided temporary accommodation while they resettle.
But the ABC has been told the men are effectively free to live unhindered in Australian society.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the men had committed serious offences “but it was time for them to come home”.
I am pleased to confirm that Australian citizens Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj have returned to Australia this afternoon,” Mr Albanese said in a statement.
In a joint statement with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Mr Albanese also thanked the Indonesian government for its cooperation in facilitating the men’s return to Australia “on humanitarian grounds”.
“This reflects the strong bilateral relationship and mutual respect between Indonesia and Australia,” the ministers said in a statement.
“The men will have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration in Australia.”
The men are understood to have returned together on a commercial flight, but it is not known whether they have been reunited with their families, or where they are staying.
The remaining five were variously from Queensland and New South Wales.
The men and their families have asked for privacy in a happy but also difficult time.
Andrew Chan
Andrew Chan was arrested at Denpasar airport and was a ringleader for the smuggling plot alongside Myuran Sukumaran.
Chan was 22 when he was arrested.
He and Sukumaran were found guilty of providing the money, airline tickets and hotels to seven others tasked with smuggling heroin out of Bali.
The Sydney local was sentenced to death for his role in the plot and, despite increasingly desperate appeals to save his life, the courts upheld the original sentence.
Chan became a committed Christian behind bars, qualifying as a pastor and becoming a minister to fellow inmates.
He and Sukumaran became a “force for change” during their time in prison, their lawyer, Julian McMahon, said.
“Slowly, they just turned their lives around and they live one day at a time under the philosophy of trying to do your best on that day, and that’s how they live,” he said.
Chan married his fiancee, Febyanti Herewila, in the days before his death.
He was executed by a firing squad in 2015.
Chan was 31.
Si-Yi Chen
Chen was arrested at the Maslati Hotel at Kuta Beach.
He was 20 at the time.
Chen wanted to be a pilot as a child and told the ABC he had planned to use the $15,000 he was promised for his role in the smuggling plot to pay for a place at an aviation school.
He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release. Hope for his release came after he was granted a 20-year prison term on appeal.
But when prosecutors appealed this, the court ruled he should be punished by death.
However, in 2008, this was reduced back to life in jail by Indonesia’s supreme court.
Chen ran a silversmith workshop in the prison, teaching other inmates to make jewellery.
He spent nearly 20 years in prison.
Chen is now 39.
Michael Czugaj
Czugaj was arrested at Denpasar airport with 1.75 kilograms of heroin strapped to his body.
He was 19 at the time.
The teenager was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of release.
His sentence was briefly reduced to 20 years in 2006 on appeal, but when prosecutors appealed this, a court ruled his original life term should be upheld.
In 2016, Czugaj was transferred from Kerobokan jail to a different prison after it was alleged he had a small amount of the drug ice in his cell.
But officials later said he was transferred from the prison because of rioting, not because of a drug problem.
In 2017, he told The Sydney Morning Herald he had been helping to support prisoners with drug rehabilitation.
He said he had been helping fellow inmates with English lessons, immersing himself in arts and crafts and dreaming of coming home.
“I wish I could surf again and live by the ocean,” he told the newspaper.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen
Nguyen was 21 when he was arrested at the Maslati Hotel.
He was originally given a life sentence.
The Australian/Vietnamese citizen appealed this and was granted a 20-year prison term.
But this was overturned and he was then sentenced to death.
A further appeal saw him given his original life sentence.
He died of kidney cancer in 2018.
Nguyen was 34 when he died.
Matthew Norman
Norman was arrested at the Maslati Hotel.
He was 18 at the time — the youngest member of the Bali Nine.
He was sentenced to life in prison, with no hope for release.
This was reduced to a 20-year prison term on appeal, increased to a death penalty and then, after yet another appeal, he was given his original life sentence.
Norman told the ABC he had planned to use the money he had been promised to buy a car.
He was considered to be a model inmate, with the prison governor at one point seeking clemency to get his sentence reduced from life to 20 years.
“I’ve got to make sure that every day I’m doing the best that I can, and that I have the best chance to get a reduction,” he said in 2017.
In 2018, he told the ABC he was working to better himself.
“We’ve all learnt skills not to come back to prison, not to re-offend, but to live a successful, happy life on the outside,” he said.
He ran English and computer classes for fellow prisoners.
Norman is now 38.
Renae Lawrence
Lawrence, the only female member of the Bali Nine, was arrested at Denpasar airport with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body.
She was 27 at the time.
Lawrence was originally sentenced to life in jail with no hope of release but had that term reduced to 20 years after an appeal.
More than six years were gradually shaved off her sentence thanks to a combination of good behaviour and reductions granted on national holidays, which is a common custom in Indonesia.
Lawrence was released in 2018 after serving more than 13 years in prison. She was 41 at the time of her release.
In 2019, she was given a lenient sentence over a car theft and high-speed police chase committed in Australia before her arrest in Bali, with her lawyer arguing she had undergone significant rehabilitation in Indonesia.
She was fined $1,000 and placed on a 12-month Community Corrections Order.
In 2020, she made a public plea for a reduction of the sentences of the remaining Bali Nine members.
Scott Rush
Rush was arrested at Denpasar airport with 1.3kg of heroin strapped to his body.
He was 19 at the time.
Rush was originally sentenced to life in prison with no hope of release.
But when prosecutors appealed this, his sentence was increased and he was handed a death penalty.
This decision was overturned in 2011, when he was once again sentenced to life in prison.
When he launched his appeal, Rush said he wanted to become an ambassador against drugs.
His lawyer, Colin McDonald, told the Catholic Leader that Rush was a “remarkable person”.
“He has faith, and faith is one of the things keeping him strong,” Mr McDonald said.
Rush is now 39.
Martin Stephens
Stephens was arrested at Denpasar airport.
He was 29.
Stephens was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of release
He launched multiple appeals but was denied each time.
In 2010, he told the court his relationship with Indonesian woman Christine Puspayanti had changed his life.
“She’s excellent,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today, so healthy, if it wasn’t for her.”
The pair met a few months after his arrest when Ms Puspayanti visited his prison with her church group, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2011, Stephens married Ms Puspayanti at Kerobokan jail.
In 2020, he was quoted in the Indonesia Expat saying he wanted to be released to take care of his wife and daughter.
“I want to be a good citizen and contribute,” he said.
Stephens is now 48.
Myuran Sukumaran
Sukumaran turned 24 the day he was arrested.
He and fellow Sydneysider Andrew Chan were the ringleaders in the smuggling plot.
Sukumaran and Chan were found guilty of providing the money, airline tickets and hotels to seven others tasked with smuggling heroin out of Bali.
After a trial, he was sentenced to death in 2006.
And despite repeated appeals to save his life, with lawyers arguing the Australian had reformed his life behind bars, the sentence was upheld.
A talented artist, Sukumaran became a prolific painter in prison, running classes for fellow prisoners to give them skills for work after jail.
In his final days before his execution, Sukumaran was awarded an associate degree in fine arts by Curtin University. and painted a series of powerful works.
He was executed by a firing squad in 2015.
Sukumaran was 34.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on the sidelines of APEC in Lima, Peru, last month when the pair discussed the return of the remaining Bali Nine members.
But the result is the consequence of years of prolonged advocacy by Australia from the prime minister down.
Mr Subianto is understood to have wanted the men home by Christmas, aware of the lengthy sentences they had already served and their ageing families
The Bali Nine were caught attempting to smuggle heroin out of Bali after a tip-off from Australian Federal Police.
Their high-profile trials were closely followed by the media, and the decision to hand down death sentences for drug trafficking, an Indonesian first, was controversial and shocking.
When Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death, then-prime minister John Howard pleaded for other Australians not to take “terrible risks”.
Their sentences were consistently opposed by the federal government, repeatedly delayed and put on hold, but the pair were executed by firing squad in 2015.