Corby's new lawyer files appeal

DENPASAR, Bali - Schapelle Corby's defence team have filed a formal appeal against her drug trafficking conviction and called on Australia to bring new witnesses to Bali so her trial can be reopened.

Hotman Paris Hutapea, a Jakarta-based and Australian-trained lawyer famous for his collection of diamonds and guns, is now fronting her legal effort and wants new evidence and testimony heard.

The 21-page appeal lodged at the Bali High Court also calls for her conviction and 20-year jail sentence to be cancelled and that the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman be freed from Bali's Kerobokan prison.

Three high court judges now have 60 days to decide her appeal, but can extend that by another 30 days.

If they agree to reopen her trial, new evidence would be heard by the same Denpasar District Court that last month sentenced Corby to 20 years in jail.

Hutapea said support from the Australian government would be crucial to having the trial reopened so Corby can prove her that 4.1kg of marijuana was planted in her bag after she checked in at Brisbane airport on October 8 last year.

"We need political support from your government, too," he said. "If your government promises they can bring the witnesses, I don't see any basis for the High Court to say no" to a trial reopening.

Among the witnesses the defence wants to bring to court are two Victorian prisoners. They were identified only as Terry and Paul by remand inmate John Ford who testified during the trial.

Ford claimed that the pair had joked about how the marijuana landed in Bali by mistake after it was stashed in Corby's boogie board bag by airport baggage handlers in Australia.

They also want to grill another Australian, Ronnie Vigenza, whom Terry and Paul allegedly identified as the real owner of the drugs.

Vigenza subsequently denied any knowledge of the drugs.

Other proposed witness would be Bali Police narcotics squad director Bambang Sugiarto, who told a local television network some months back that police only completed 50 percent of the investigation into Corby's case before handing the dossier to prosecutors; and Australian and Indonesian airport staff on duty on October 8 including Qantas check-in personnel from Brisbane airport, closed circuit TV staff from Sydney, Brisbane and Bali, customs officers from Brisbane airport, and baggage handlers from Brisbane, Sydney and Bali airports.

The defence wants CCTV footage from Australia and Bali found and presented in court.

The defence appeal comes one day after prosecutors submitted their own three and a half-page appeal, arguing that Corby should have been jailed for life for what they called a "transnational crime".

They said the 20-year jail term does not fully represent the impact drugs have on Indonesian society and on Bali's reputation as a tourist island.

However, Hutapea said the court had not found Corby materially guilty of knowingly importing the drugs.

"The court did not apply the principle of absolute truth in the criminal law," he said.

Another Corby lawyer at court today, Lily Lubis, said the appeal would also focus on the failure of Bali police to fingerprint the plastic bag that had contained the marijuana.

"What the prosecutor and the judges proved is that the boogie board bag belonged to Schapelle,(and) that she admitted it belonged to her. But they have not proven that the marijuana belonged to her," she said before visiting Corby in prison.

- AAP