A decade after Malaysia's criminal justice system earned worldwide condemnation for bending the rules to send a prominent politician to jail, it is back in the dock and under attack for allegedly stretching the rules in a sensational murder case involving top personages.

Opposition lawmakers and independent observers are questioning the diligence of the police investigation into a high profile murder, the integrity of the prosecution in ferreting out "all the truth" and the independence of judges to mete out justice.

At the core of the rising dissatisfaction is the gruesome murder of a 28-year-old Mongolian beauty, Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was abducted from outside the home of Abdul Razak Baginda, one of the country's best known political scientists. Abdul Razak is political adviser to Najib Abdul Razak, the country's Deputy Prime Minister.

Altantuya was abducted by two police officers belonging to an elite police unit on Oct 18 last year, according to public prosecutors' opening statement when the trial opened last month.