Schapelle Corby sentence could be cut

Schapelle Corby was caught taking 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in a boogie board bag. Photo / Getty Images

UBUD - Australian drug traffickers Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence are expected to be handed sentence cuts as part of Indonesian Independence Day celebrations.

Prison authorities at Bali's Kerobokan Prison have recommended a four-month reduction for Corby and a five-month one for Lawrence, one of the so-called Bali Nine.

If Indonesia's Justice Ministry approves the cuts, they would have been announced at a ceremony at the prison late yesterday.

Made Suardana, the registration chief of Bali's Justice Office, said Corby's recommended cut was smaller because she violated prison rules in 2007.

Corby, 32, was sentenced to 20 years' jail after she was caught at Bali's airport in October 2004 with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag. Lawrence was sentenced to 20 years' jail for her role in the failed Bali Nine plot to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

Indonesia traditionally cuts jail terms on Independence Day for prisoners who have served at least six months and are not sentenced to either life in prison or death.

- AAP