The Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking – whom he always denied – before being transferred to France in February, will be released this Friday, July 18.
Free, finally. Serge Atlaoui will be released this Friday, July 18. This 61 -year -old Frenchman had repatriated to France and imprisoned in February 2025, after spending very long years in an Indonesia prison. Arrested for drug trafficking, he was sentenced to death in 2005.
“He will breathe an expected freedom, hoped for so many years,” said his wife Sabine on RTL. “To say that he is back, that he will be with us again in our daily lives, it is so incredible that I realize it without realizing it”.
When he left Meaux prison, Serge Atlaoui will be expected by his lawyer, Me Richard Sédillot. Sabine Atlaoui refused to indicate when and where she would find her husband.
Accused of drug trafficking
Serge Atlaoui, a craftsman from Metz, had come to install industrial machines in what he thought was an acrylic factory near Jakarta. Indonesian police had discovered tens of kilos of drugs on the locals in 2005 and accused the French of being the “chemist” of traffic. Now Serge Atlaoui has always denied being involved in any drug trafficking.
Initially sentenced to life prison in 2005, he had seen his sentence increased 2 years later, the Indonesian Supreme Court sentenced him to death. The case had caused a stir in Indonesia, where anti -Drogue legislation is one of the most severe in the world.
A last -minute stay
Serge Atlaoui was to be executed in 2015 but France’s intense diplomatic pressure allowed him to obtain a last -minute stay. It was not until February 2025 that the Frenchman was able to leave Indonesia to join a French prison. The sentence of Serge Atlaoui having been commissioned in French law in 30 years of criminal imprisonment by the Pontoise court in February, the craftsman-soder was theoretically eligible for parole since 2011 according to French rules.