British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s younger brother went on trial in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Thursday on charges of heroin possession.
Ronald Ramsay (38) was arrested in February after entering a supermarket in Bali’s tourist strip of Kuta. Police said they seized 100 milligrams of heroin from him.
Prosecutor Agung Kusumayasa told the trial at Denpasar district court that Ramsay was in ”illegal possession of class-one narcotics”.
He faces a maximum 10 years in jail if found guilty on possession charges.
Under Indonesian law the defence makes its submissions later in the trial. At the court’s detention room, an apparently distressed Ramsay covered his face with a newspaper and spat when journalists tried to take his picture.
”Go! Leave me alone!” he said.
Indonesia imposes harsh penalties, including death, for narcotic offences as the country faces a growing drug menace.
Five Chinese nationals, a Dutchman and a Frenchman who appealed against the length of their convictions on drug charges were instead sentenced to death this month.
Six young Australians were sentenced to death last year for heroin smuggling on Bali, sparking anger in Australia where capital punishment has been abolished. – Reuters