Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly and a delegation from the Indonesian government will bring home Maria Lumowa, a fugitive from the Serbian bank BNI burglar. Yasonna said that the success of completing the extradition process cannot be separated from legal diplomacy and good relations between the two countries.
"I am pleased to announce that we have officially completed the handing over process for the surrender of the fugitive on behalf of Maria Pauline Lumowa from the Serbian government," Yasonna said in a written statement, Thursday, July 9, 2020.
Yasonna Laoly said that Maria Lumowa's repatriation had been disrupted. He said there was a legal effort from Maria to escape the extradition process. In addition, said Yasonna, there are also efforts from one European country to prevent extradition from happening.
Indonesia and Serbia are not yet bound by an extradition treaty. "However, through a high-level approach with senior Serbian government officials and given the very good relations between the two countries, Maria Pauline Lumowa's extradition request was granted," Yasonna said.
The woman who was born in Paleloan, North Sulawesi, was later discovered to be in the Netherlands in 2009 and often goes back and forth to Singapore. The Indonesian government had twice proposed an extradition process to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010 and 2014 because Maria Lumowa had been a Dutch citizen since 1979.
But the request was rejected. The Netherlands gave the option for Maria Lumowa to be tried there. Law enforcement efforts entered a new chapter when Maria Lumowa was arrested by NBC Interpol Serbia at Nikola Tesla International Airport, Serbia on July 16, 2019.
Yasonna Laoly said the arrests were made based on an Interpol red notice issued December 22, 2003. "With the completion of this extradition process, the long journey of 17 years in pursuit of fugitive Maria Pauline Lumowa ends," said Yasonna.
