Orthopaedic surgeon and back specialist Dr Thomas Hoogland completed his testimony in the Sodomy II trial before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today, during which he denied saying "Anwar Ibrahim cannot bend".

The Dutch specialist who performed spinal surgery on Anwar in 2004 was shown a CCTV recording of Anwar entering an elevator at the Desa Damansara condominium on the day of the alleged sodomy on June 26, 2008, showing him bending down to pick up something.

NONE Anwar was seen bending down, and in the same motion putting on a blazer, in what solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden described as "with ease"

However, Hoogland did not agree with the prosecution's contention, as the clip did not show Anwar's facial expression when he was bending down.

He said the CCTV recording playback speed was faster than normal and he could not see whether Anwar was in pain or not.

"He is likely Mr Anwar and he is able to bend. I never said he cannot bend. He has pain in bending and he has to do this motion slowly. Here you do not see it," Hoogland said in reply to Yusof.

The lead prosecutor also asked whether there was a possibility Anwar could have contracted his muscle to suppress the pain, to which Hoogland said the politician also had athritis.

Earlier, during examination-in-chief, defence counsel Sankara Nair had posed several questions to Hoogland on whether Anwar could kneel down on a carpet without pain.

Hoogland replied that when one considered the sexual act (sodomy), it was very unlikely to be possible.

"Based on the examination of Anwar (the surgery that he had undergone) and the MRI results, it (to perform the sodomy act) is not possible for his age, based on his injury and what I have inspected," Hoogland said.

In his testimony earlier, Hoogland said Anwar will face problems if he needed to pick something up that has fallen in front of him by  bending down directly.

"If he bends slowly it would be all right, but there will be pain. The right motion is to bend your legs to pick it up," he said.

 The expert witness who had performed more than 14,000 spinal surgeries, including on the Sultan Kedah and his late wife, said Anwar's injury was not due to age although the politician was 55 in 2004.

"Anwar's injury was not caused by age but a result of the police assault six years' earlier. He has stenosis and nerve damage (as a result of the fall)," he said.

Sex act not possible

Earlier, during examination-in-chief, defence counsel Sankara Nair had posed several questions to Hoogland on whether Anwar could kneel down on a carpet without pain.

Hoogland replied that when one considered the sexual act (sodomy), the possibility was very unlikely.

"Based on the examination of Anwar (the surgery that he had undergone) and the MRI (magenetic resonance imaging) results, it (to perform the sodomy act) is not possible for his age, based on his injury and what I have inspected," Hoogland said. 

Yesterday the defence had laid the foundation by stating the nature of Anwar's injury was the result of the police assault, and the fall.

This was followed by the alleged description of the sex-act held  in camera.

The Dutch expert defended the success of his surgery but admitted it cannot heal Anwar completely. 

"There was improvement following the surgery, but we cannot make it heal it completely. The surgery cannot alleviate the problem completely, and there is still significant pain," he maintained. 

 Hoogland explained that the surgery would alleviate pain at the joint.

"It will lighten the pain but not heal arthritis," he said, adding that arthiritis degeneration begins between the ages of 40 and 50, depending on the individual.

The Dutch specialist said he had not met Anwar since Feb 2005 when the politician came for examination. Anwar had surgery in Sept 2004, and saw him again only in Sept 2011.

The witness explained that Anwar experiences back pain when he bends back by five to 10 degrees and suffers significant back pain in flexion (bending forward) by 15 degrees.

He added that Anwar has not undergone treatment since 2004.

However, the witness testified that he noticed last month, that while there has been some improvement, the degeneration has limited Anwar's physical mobility.

Towards the last half of today's proceeding, the judge decided to hold the proceeding in camera as Yusof was asking the expert on the possibility of such (sexual) acts being carried out with Anwar's injury.

Hearing ended with Sankara's re-examination of Hoogland also held in camera.

The hearing has been scheduled for four days from Oct 17 with expected testimonies from former Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and also former Malacca police chief Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof who was then deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak's aide de camp.

Sankara has also said that the prosecution is set to call two or three rebuttal witnesses.