Hell's Prisoner: Jailed for Over Eleven Years in Indonesia's Most Notorious Prisons by Parnell Christopher V. V

Author:Parnell, Christopher V. V. [Parnell, Christopher V. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781840187045
Amazon: 1840187042
Goodreads: 826021
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Published: 2003-04-24T06:00:00+00:00

Ś

r I i

117

^mm

downers. But the bulk of the foreign prisoners were too afraid to risk trying to visit us because they didn’t want to get involved.

They all feared that the guards might think they were somehow involved in our escape attempt, and that they might lose their remissions. The only Aussies who visited me were John, Andrew the fisherman and Sam, the bloke I had met the night I was transferred to Krobokan Prison.

A couple of Aussie prisoners complained about our treatment to the Australian Embassy and Consulate in Bali.

There is nothing we can do. Russell and James are convicted drug traffickers and ex-escapees and they’re being punished according to Indonesian laws,’ the Consulate informed them. So basically shut up and piss off with your complaints. However, the International Red Cross took a totally different view of the whole matter when they paid a visit to the prison and discovered what our condition was after three and a half months of solitary in handcuffs.

The Red Cross did occasional spot checks on Pak Puji, the one and only political prisoner. They were one of the few organisations that had the right to check out his living conditions and to visit him in his cell, rather than in a contrived atmosphere like the prison offices or official visiting rooms.

Once when they were in Block C, which Pak Puji generally had to himself, he told them about the three foreign prisoners who were also being held in the block with him. He told them about our beatings and what had been done to us—the same treatment he had suffered nearly 25 years ago. Pak Puji was no man’s fool - he spoke to the Red Cross official about us in Dutch. The Dutch bloke from the International Red Cross was also no fboL To cover Pak Puji he insisted on checking out where the toilets were in the block, where the prisoner (Pak Puji) could bath and wash himself, where he could exercise in the block and so forth.

This stuck a burr up the guards’ arseholes, especially the KPLP chief Susanta. But I was unaware of all these happenings at the time; all I knew was the guards quickly dashed into my ceil, removed the handcuffs, gave me a clean shirt and a pair of shorts to put on, and threw a cane mat down on the floor.

Ten minutes later, a tall grey-haired foreigner appeared at my cell.

‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘Do you speak English?’

‘Yes,’ I replied.

“Ah, that’s very good. I was only told that there were foreigners here, and I wasn’t too sure if they spoke English. What is your name?’ he said.

‘Ah, Russell,’ I replied.

‘And what is your nationality?’ he continued.

Who’s this guy? I thought, and bow did he get in here? ‘Are you a policeman?’ I asked.

He smiled as he replied, ‘No, no, I am not a policeman, my name is Gustoff, Dr Gustoff. I am a representative of the International Red Cross.’ He poked a thick pink arm through the cell bars, offering me his hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.