Death sentence in Indonesia reveals 'serious dysfunctions': French foreign minister

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has condemned the sentencing to death of a Frenchman in Indonesia, calling the trial hasty and filled with errors.

Serge Atlaoui at a hearing near Jakarta, 1 April 2015 AFP

Serge Atlaoui, 51, had his final appeal rejected on Tuesday, which brings him closer to execution by firing squad in a drug case which has strained relations between France and Indonesia.

"The eventual execution of Mr Atlaoui would be even more incomprehensible to the government and French people as, due to serious dysfunctions in the Indonesian legal system, he did not benefit from his due rights," Fabius wrote in a letter to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

"This is a discriminatory procedure against one of our citizens who does not benefit from the same guarantees as Indonesian citizens in the same case,” he added.

Atlaoui, who was arrested at an ecstasy laboratory in 2005, is the only one of the nine arrested to receive the death sentence. The father of four has denied the charges against him and says he was installing machinery and thought the factory produced acrylics.

Among the errors submitted in the death sentence decision, Fabius said, was the description of Atlaoui as a chemist, while witness statements proved he was working as a welder in the factory where the drugs were being made.

Hollande warned on Wednesday that the execution would damage ties between the two nations.

Six people, five of them foreigners, were executed by firing squad in January, prompting Brazil and the Netherlands to withdraw their ambassadors in protest.