Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Apandi Ali has fixed June 11 to hear submissions on whether an appeal hearing can go on, since relevant records of evidence have gone missing in the case filed by activist Irene Fernandez.

“The court is concerned with the disappearance of the evidence. I have directed the officer who (wrote) the report to lodge a police report,” he said this morning.

irene fernandez appeal 010408 02 After what was dubbed ‘the longest trial in Malaysian history’, Fernandez was convicted and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. She is on bail pending the outcome of her appeal hearing, which has been riddled with postponements.

On April 1, her lawyer M Puravalen and DPP Shamsul Sulaiman had expressed their concern and inability to proceed with the appeal because of the missing documents.

puravalen Puravalen had claimed that statements from five key prosecution witnesses and all 21 defence witnesses were missing, describing this as “grave and frightening”.

Apandi then gave the magistrate’s court time to furnish the documents, on the possibility that the records could have been misplaced when the KL courts were relocated from Jalan Raja to Jalan Duta.

However, the report written by one of his legal officers revealed that the missing documents - which include statements by three prosecution witnesses and an exhibit - cannot be found and may have gone missing even while being kept in the Jalan Raja premises.

Puravalen told reporters that the three witnesses are district engineer Tan Onn Chin, former Tanjung Rambutan psychiatric hospital director Dr N Raman and psychiatric nurse N Vejayan.

Predicament for court

Apandi said the court is in a predicament, as legal questions are likely to be raised. He fixed June 11 to hear submissions.

“We will hear submissions from both sides on the disappearance of these documents resulting in the incomplete appeal records, (and) which prevents this case from proceeding,” he said.

“What would be the legal effect vis-à-vis the appeal itself? We will also consider whether we need to invoke the inherent powers of the court to ensure justice is done.

“This doesn’t happen all the time. Only once in a blue moon. I hope you will do a thorough research on the nett legal effect of this circumstance.”

Fernandez, who heads migrant rights group Tenaganita, had written a memorandum entitled ‘Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant workers in Detention Centres’ in 1995.

She was arrested and charged a year later under Section 8A(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. The maximum penalty is three years’ imprisonment or a fine not exceeding RM20,000, or both.