Victims of alleged police brutality and their families stared disappointment in the face again, meeting a wall of bureaucracy when presenting a memorandum to the Home Ministry today.

NONE Accompanied by 10 members of the NGO Lawyers for Liberty, the group was hopeful of meeting with the minister, Hishammuddin Hussein ( right ), or at least with secretary-general Mahmood Adam.

However, they were barred from entering the ministry building in Putrajaya, and were made to wait for 40 minutes before a special aide came down to receive the memorandum on behalf of Hishammuddin.

R Rajendran, a family friend of A Kugan who died in police custody, said it was impossible for the family to find an end to their suffering as it appeared that neither the police nor the ministry were interested in seeking justice.

"His mother bought a cake and we celebrated his birthday with his portrait on Aug 31. Until today, they only charged one person for Kugan's death, but we cannot believe that only one person is involved... where is the humanity?," Rajendran said, referring to the on-going trial of constable V Ravindran in connection with Kugan's death.

NONE SM Seksyen 9 Parent-Teacher Association representative Mona Lisa Mokhtar also hit out at the police and Home Ministry, decrying the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah ( left ) and the mistreatment of his friend Azamuddin Omar.

Putting up a defence for Azamuddin, who with Aminulrasyid attended SM Seksyen 9, she said it was unacceptable for the police to pressure Azamuddin over the course of their investigations into Aminulrasyid's alleged killing by police officers.

"Throughout this incident, Azamuddin is a witness and the police should not treat him like a suspect," she said.

Also present were Aminulrasyid's sister Azura Amzah, Azamuddin's brother Hafizuddin Omar, Kugan's mother Indra Nallathamby and alleged police shooting victims Norizan Salleh and Shahril Azlan.

Victims, families demand justice

The memorandum listed six cases of police brutality between January 2009 and April this year, the most recent being Aminulrasyid's shooting death , and Kugan's death in custody at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya.

NONE It also included the shooting death of Mohd Arfam Arin in October 2009, single mother Norizan Salleh ( right in photo ) who survived being shot five times, and Shahril Azlan, 26, who was shot while trying to get out of his car at a road block as his car's road tax had expired.

The memorandum outlines four demands, including bringing all "police perpetrators", including outgoing inspector-general Musa Hassan and Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, to justice for criminal charges and disciplinary proceedings commensurating with their offences.

The other demands include:

  • The setting up of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC);
  • Reviewing and making public the Inspector-General of Police Standing Order (IGSO);
  • For Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the cabinet to publicly apologise to all the victims and survivors and accept full responsibility for the unlawful actions of the police force.

Lawyers for Liberty representative N Surendran called on the authorities to own up to their mistakes and put a stop to such injustices.

"They (the families) can't bring back their loved ones, but let there at least be some meaning to their already senseless deaths. We are not asking for anything special here... we just want the authorities to do their jobs properly," he said.

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