A friend of Myuran Sukumaran says the convicted Bali 9 ringleader will not wear a blindfold when he is executed.
Speaking to 2GB Radio, artist Ben Quilty said that Sukumaran wants to look his firing squad executioners in the eye when he is put to death.
He and his fellow Australian Bali 9 co-conspirator are due to be shot dead along with six other death-row prisoners from Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines plus one from Indonesia, sometime after midnight (Indonesia time) on Tuesday night.
“Myuran always said to me that he would never take this lying down; that he would stare them down, that no one would cover his eyes, that he would face it with dignity,” Quilty said.
“He will face it with strength and dignity; I know that. I know that about him, because he won’t want his mother to think he’s a weeping mess at the end.” he added.
Quilty developed a close friendship with the Bali 9 prisoner after teaching him how to paint. According to the artist, Sukumaran’s greatest regret was the distress his actions have caused his family.
“He always said to me that he’s made terrible mistakes… I think he’s forgiven himself for the horror of what he did, the crime that he did, but he has never been able to forgive himself for what he’s put his mum through and his little sister and his little brother,” he told 2GB.
When asked about what he would be doing in the hours leading up to his friend’s death, Quilty said: “Myuran would want me to paint on that night”.
IMAGE: A member of the legal team for Australian Bali 9 drug death row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran carries a self-portrait painting made by Sukumaran entitled ‘The Second Last Day’, signed and dated at the back ‘Besi Prison, Nusakambangan, 27/4/15’. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)