The former Gold Coast beauty school student, now 36, was sentenced to 20 years in Kerobokan Prison when convicted for drug smuggling in 2004.
Corby was arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport at Denpasar when 4.2 kilograms of cannabis was discovered in her bodyboard bag.
She has always protested her innocence.
After a protracted process, officials today granted Corby parole along with 1291 other prisoners, although she won’t be able to return to Australia until at least 2017.
Details are still emerging, but after her ‘release’ Corby will stay in Bali with her sister Mercedes and her brother-in-law.
Part of the parole process includes 12 months of ‘guidance’ to ensure authorities have made the right decision.
“This parole is not a generosity,” Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin said.
“It is a right that is regulated by the laws of the land.
“We are a dignified nation and we enforce the law, and we don’t look at who that person is we look at the legislation.”
He was of course referring to the high-profile nature of Corby’s case, which captured the imagination of Australians have has been recounted in a new TV drama (scroll down for a sneak peak of the Nine Network’s telemovie)
Corby was given a five-year sentence reduction in 2012, when she made the most recent parole application.
She won’t leave the confines of Kerobokan until after the weekend with the prison governor saying her release will happen “During business hours.”
Image via Getty
