JAKARTA ~ President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has cut the prison sentence of a French drugs smuggler from life to 20 years, a presidential spokesman said.

Michael Blanc, 35, was caught smuggling 3.5 kilograms of hashish in a diving tank through Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport in 1999.

“(Blanc) was granted a remission by the Indonesian president from life to 20 years’ jail following the recommendation of the justice minister that he had shown good behavior,” spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said.

Justice Minister Andi Matalatta said the remission was made in December last year on the advice of officials at Bali’s Kerobokan prison, where Blanc was held for six years before being transferred to neighboring Java.

Blanc is also eligible for twice-yearly sentence cuts regularly handed out by the government to prisoners on the country’s independence day and on religious holidays.

“The 20 years sentence can be reduced again every year,” Matalatta said.