Human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar was released by the police at 3 pm this afternoon - four hours after being arrested at his office in Bangsar for failure to cooperate with the police in investigations into several assault reports lodged by him.

Uthayakumar told malaysiakini he was released after police officers produced him before a magistrate after which they recorded his statement at the Brickfields district police headquarters.

Uthayakumar said he reiterated in his statement that he did not trust the police to investigate his case as they were the perpetrators themselves. He said he asked for the matter to be taken up by independent bodies like the Police Commission and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

"I am the victim in this case and have been repeatedly arrested because of my work as a human rights lawyer and as I have stated in my earlier reports dated May 10 and April 27, the police are the accused and the criminals in my case.

"My statement read that I have lost confidence in the police force and as recorded before, I will only give my statement to the Police Commission and Suhakam as they have the power to investigate my reports," said Uthayakumar.

The reports he referred to were made after he alleged the police had assaulted him and damaged his car. Since then the police have sought to obtain a court order to compel the lawyer to present himself at a police station to give a statement regarding the reports.

Arrest warrant challenged

The police arrest at 11.15 am today used an arrest warrant which Uthayakumar's lawyer deemed illegal because he (counsel) had given notice to the police to be informed when a court order was being applied for to compel Uthayakumar to report to the police.

"I wrote to the police on June 17 requesting them to inform us about any proceedings that were going to be initiated against Uthayakumar at any court so that we could raise our objections against it formally and explain our reasons," said M Manoharan.

However, he said the police failed to do so and when they were brought before the magistrate, he objected to the arrest warrant and asked for its cancellation because it was 'unlawfully obtained'.

Another of Uthayakumar's lawyers also alleged that police had manhandled and assaulted one of them after a commotion which had occurred during the heated atmosphere in magistrate's chambers at Jalan Raja.

Besides representing several families of victims of custodial deaths, Uthayakumar has also been involved in Police Watch and Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation committee that investigates alleged cases of police brutality.

Immediately after his assault in May, the lawyer sought temporary asylum in the United Kingdom claiming that he no longer felt safe in Malaysia. He however returned three weeks later after the government had ensured his safety .