For two years, This couple from the Metz region lives in anguish. Their best friend is locked up in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking. We don't live anymore. I don't know, it's him, he is in my past, every day, every day, every day. It's been two years and then no, What. It's long, I assure you, it's long. Two years like this, we are here, we have a roof, we have... And him, over there, two years, It is... The express unit is getting worse. Worse, honestly worse. Their friend Serge Atlaoui, 43 years old, is imprisoned in Jakarta. Worse, on May 29, Manuel and his wife learn terrible news. Serge is sentenced to be shot. I didn't expect him to get the death penalty. You see, the fact is that there. SO, It's turning into everything now. It hurt me, very bad. Even now. His best friend is completely at a loss. This is an extraordinary story. That of a simple welder who finds himself on death row in a high-security prison on the other side of the world. How did Serge Atlawi become embroiled in one of the most notorious drug cases Indonesia has ever seen? Why was this father sentenced to such a harsh sentence and is he really guilty? It was in this small town in Lorraine that Serge Atlaoui grew up. Coming from a modest background, after a short schooling, he was hired as a welder on construction sites in the region, like here, during the renovation work on its blast furnaces. In recent years, he gets into debt. especially to buy a house where he lives with Sabine, his partner and their three children. It was then that in the fall of 2005, a Dutch friend, Nicolas Garnic, offers him a very well-paid job, 4000 euros, to assemble machines in a factory, for two weeks, but for that, you have to go all the way to Indonesia. It is because he accepted this job that today Serge Atlaoui is languishing behind bars in this Jakarta prison. the most closely monitored in the country. But before he left, What did he know about the task he had to accomplish? Did he know the risks? To find out, We tried to meet him in detention. Equipped with a discreet camera, we enter the waiting hall of the parlor. We go to the room first. Dozens of wives or relatives are waiting their turn. The building is clean and modern. And after an hour and a half of waiting, We will finally be able to meet the French convict. Obviously, It is forbidden to film the premises. So to avoid the interview, once broadcast, don't cause trouble for Serge, we record it without his knowledge. How did it go? Why did you come to Indonesia actually? To work and recover from the return to school. All right, So you had financial problems? Yes, it has changed. And what kind of work did you come here to do? Technician. Technician, did you know? The technician of what? Installing istillette machines. All right. Was it a friend who contacted you? He is an acquaintance of a friend of mine. I don't know personally, I don't know all that. So you didn't know you were coming to fix it like a machine? No, only that it was an acrylic factory. And that I had to install the machines that were in crates. And that's what I did. In reality, This factory is not quite an acrylic textile factory. It is located in the countryside two hours drive from the capital. At the time, The neighbor had been surprised by the somewhat incongruous presence of many foreign employees on the site. There was a Dutchman, a Frenchman, many Chinese and Koreans, an Australian. Three of them still remained inside. They lived there. He was a little Chinese guy, a Korean and a Dutchman. And French? They were going back and forth. Actually, Serge Atlaoui, like other foreigners, were hired by an Indonesian boss for a specific purpose. The place of production, it was over there. In this warehouse, well hidden from view, there was a clandestine laboratory. It's locked. Behind this door, employees were trying to develop MDMA, the main component of a widely used drug, ecstasy. Even today, Serge Atlaoui is formal. He claims to have only discovered these illicit activities once he was there. But what the French don't know, This is because the factory is under high surveillance. There were four policemen. They lived there, in this house, at the entrance to the factory. They pretended to be students. They remained under observation for five months. The day, they looked at everything, from the refreshment bar over there. On November 11, 2005, The drug squad raided the premises. Inside, The police found that their suspicions were well founded. Certainly, the production line is not yet operational, but according to the authorities, The factory could eventually produce up to 5,000 ecstasy pills per day. It is one of the biggest drug busts ever uncovered in the country. So in front of the media, The Indonesian president himself came to congratulate the police for this raid. 12 people are arrested, 5 Indonesians, the others are all foreigners. Among them, Serge Atlaoui, who was to complete his mission only a few days later. The Frenchman will then appear before the Indonesian courts. And in November 2006, he is sentenced to a very heavy sentence, life imprisonment. Far from his own, deep in his cell, Sergei Tlawi nevertheless manages to cope, and this is notably thanks to the support of a French woman. Hélène knows the country's prison system well, and for good reason. His son, Michael Blanc, was sentenced by the Indonesian courts to life in prison for drug trafficking, which he has always denied. For 7 years, She moved to the area to be closer to her son. So when Hélène learned that another Frenchman was being held for life in Jakarta, she reacted immediately. Simply, I heard his case and as he is a French person, I felt concerned. I tried to meet him because that's what I'm trying to do, to reach out a little to people who are in prison, knowing the subject. Pretty good too. And so, That's how I met Serge, by simply going to see him. Hélène even agreed to participate in an extraordinary event in Serge's prison life. It was last January. His partner Sabine had travelled to Jakarta. They decided to get married and so, they asked me, Sabine asked me to be her best man. The wedding ceremony. took place in the very heart of the prison. There was of course the whole prison demonstration that was present. This is Mr. the French consul who married them. We even had a little meal. It was really good. It was very touching, very true. It was definitely a bit surreal, but there was so much happiness between them, so much love and so much... that it was still a party and Serge had said that he wanted it to be a party, may it be a good memory for him and his wife. A moment of very fleeting happiness, because four months later, dramatic turn of events. On May 29, Supreme Court worsens verdict. It won't be life imprisonment, but the death sentence. The spokesman for the country's highest judicial authority justifies... very calmly the use of capital punishment. In this Muslim country, The fight against drug trafficking is a priority. And according to him, Serge Atlaoui is heavily implicated in the affair. We believe that Serge Atlaoui is a specialist. It was an Indonesian trafficker who brought him to Indonesia on purpose to manufacture narcotics. He was accompanied by a Dutchman, Nicolas Garnic. They were both hired for their expertise in the production of Extasy. These people are experts. We sentenced them to death because they risked passing on their know-how to Indonesian traffickers. A death sentence as an example, somehow. From his prison, Serge Atlaoui is convinced that there was an attempt to inflate the case. I admit what I did and I get a lot more blame. It's unbearable. I am told that I am responsible for the network. So this is nonsense, This is really absurd. I am willing to be punished for what I did, but not for more. An accomplice in spite of himself, This is the only mistake that the Frenchman recognizes. But is his line of defense credible? We returned to the Metz region, at Manuel's, his 30-year-old friend. That day, We show him the video shot in Jakarta prison. He will not lose anything important, did you believe? Yeah. What is easier? He has his naivety, as per usual. Still naive, always trusting everyone. And then, sooner or later, it had to happen to him. That is to say, he let himself be carried away? Yeah, he let himself be carried away, Yes. In my opinion, he was especially not aware. He got trapped, as per usual. He is too naive, He is someone who is too naive. I think everyone likes it, that they did not try to understand why the person was there. What was she doing there again? They put everyone in the same bag, They picked up everyone and then everyone took the same. Serge Atlaoui would therefore pay a price that is far too high in relation to his real involvement in the affair. Indonesian justice, She, does not bother with these considerations and the execution of French remains potentially on the agenda. This execution will only take place after the agreement of the President of the Republic. The firing squad will consist of 12 shooters. And among the 12 who will shoot, only one will shoot live ammunition. The other 11 will use blanks. This is just so the shooters don't know which one of them actually killed. Last hope for Serge. A presidential pardon. Since 1980, Indonesia has executed 40 people on death row.