Lawyer P Uthayakumar has filed a suit against 11 police officers alleging unlawful arrest and detention, and an abuse of police powers o­n behalf of the country's more than 10,000 lawyers, public interest, the families of police abuse victims and himself.

The suit was filed at the civil High Court registrar's office in Kuala Lumpur o­n Friday and is the second by the human rights lawyer over his arrest and detention by the police.

The first was filed against the police seeking a court declaration that his arrest and detention o­n Jan 16, 2003 and Jan 17, 2003 by two district police units were unconstitutional and done with malicious intent.

Uthayakumar, who is protem secretary-general of the yet-to-be-registered Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim), said o­ne important aspect of the suit was the declaration sought to stop the police from taking statements from lawyers.

"This has been happening since 1998 after (jailed ex-deputy premier) Anwar Ibrahim and the reformasi period," he said when contacted today.

"The police insist that lawyers have to give a statement despite our explanation that we speak o­n behalf of our clients and not in our personal capacity."

He is seeking a declaration to hold that Section 42 of the Legal Profession Act 1976 should prevail over the Police Act 1967 and/or the Inspector-General's Standing Orders whenever a conflict arises.

"The act of giving a police statement makes a lawyer a witness, and so he or she has to disqualify himself or herself from acting for the client."

Police defendants

Citing the Latin phrase "generalibus speciliant non derogant", Uthayakumar said it holds that special principles have precedence over the general o­nes.

"Such a declaration will affect all lawyers in the country because a precedent will be established where police cannot take statements from lawyers," he added.

The eight defendants named were Selangor OCCI SAC II Abu Bakar Mustafa, DSP Amidon Adnan, ASP Muniandy Ramasamy, chief inspector Mohd Agmi Abdul Wahab, chief inspector Ponniah Ganesan, the police force, the public prosecutor and the government.

Today's writ of summons, filed by Messrs M. Manoharan & Co at Wisma Denmark, named Kuala Lumpur police chief Dell Akbar Khan, Selangor police chief Mohd Noor Hamat, former city police chief Syed Abdul Rahman Syed Abdul Kadir and former Sentul OCPD Ishak Abdul Aziz.

The others are Dang Wangi OCPD Hadi Ho Abdullah, Sentul Deputy OCPD Yusof Shuib, D 9B staff officer DSP Zainuddin Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur Deputy OCCI III Wong Wai Leong, D5 staff officer (prosecution) DSP Ee Kong Koi, prosecuting officer Raja Rozmi Raja Rashid and chief inspector Vasu Appu.

In his statement of claim, Uthayakumar is seeking for a court order to bar the defendants from further unlawfully arresting and/or unlawfully detaining and/or unlawfully harassing him.

Uthayakumar alleged that during his detention, the defendants had used foul language, made him strip down to his underwear in full view of nine officers and filmed, and thumbprinted like a common criminal.

Exceeded detention

He maintained that the defendants acted in a vindictive manner as revenge against his handling of cases as requested by the families of suspects who had died while in police custody.

He claimed to have been denied legal representation and that he was detained for 25 hours, in clear breach of his constitutional right, when there was "no necessity" to do so.

Uthayakumar claimed there was no arrest warrant and that no grounds were given for not producing it apart from an officer telling him that "we don't need a warrant".

He claimed he had also not been told of the grounds of arrest.

He is also seeking civil and/or criminal defamation for utterances and remarks made by defendants throughout his arrest and detention.

He is seeking a declaration that his second arrest by Sentul police and his third arrest by Dang Wangi police were illegal, and null and void.

Among others, Uthayakumar is claiming for special damages, general damages, exemplary damages, aggravated damages and damages for loss of reputation and loss of business as a result of the unlawful arrest and/or detention and/or malicious prosecution.