Jakarta. The Foreign Affairs Ministry revealed Friday that they had not had any sort of formal diplomatic communication with the British government on the repatriation of Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian prisoner who has earned the title of the UK’s worst serial rapist.

Back in 2020, Reynhard made worldwide headlines for being convicted of 159 sex offenses, including 136 counts of rapes against dozens of men in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service even gave Reynhard, who is now serving a life sentence, the nickname “the worst prolific rapist in British legal history”. Five years later, the possibility of the now 41-year-old Reynhard serving the rest of his prison time in his home country Indonesia arises. But the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s spokesman Rolliansyah “Roy” Soemirat said that there had not been any formal diplomatic communication with the British government.

“As of now, we can confirm the Indonesian government -- in this case Foreign Affairs Ministry -- has not received any form of formal diplomatic correspondence in regards to this repatriation plan,” Roy told a presser in Jakarta.

Roy, however, said that the Coordinating Ministry for Legal Affairs might be more familiar with Reynhard’s repatriation plan. “But we will always remain available to coordinate with and facilitate all relevant parties if needed,” the diplomat added.

According to Chief Legal Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the talks of bringing back Reynhard from British prison were still quite nascent. The government will also likely decide on the repatriation mechanism later on. Indonesia is also exploring the possibility of sending back a British detainee in exchange for Reynhard’s repatriation.

“And we have to throw him [Reynhard] to a maximum security prison. We only have a prison of that kind in Nusakambangan. If we treat [Reynhard] like an ordinary prisoner, it will only lead to new problems,” Yusril told reporters on Thursday.

Reynhard is currently locked up in the high security prison HMP Wakefield dubbed  as “Monster Mansion”. It has seen many of the worst criminals in the country passing through its cells. Reynhard has also been attacked by fellow inmates. Nusakambangan -- which lies in Central Java’s Cilacap -- typically hosts Indonesia’s most notorious criminals, including terrorists. 

Yusril, too, admitted that Reynhard’s return to Indonesia would raise people’s eyebrows, given the gravity of his crime. “Our country [the government] is obliged to defend him proportionally. We can’t just not take care [of Reynhard] just because we don’t like him,” Yusril said, while admitting that Reynhard’s family had asked for his return.