COMMENT | First, Suaram would like to congratulate the Pakatan Harapan government for finally imposing a moratorium on hangings in the country with a view to abolishing the death penalty in the next parliamentary seating.

We have been calling for the abolition of the death penalty ever since Suaram was founded in 1989.

There is no better time for our country to abolish the death penalty than the present predicament we face in trying to extradite Sirul Azhar Umar, one of the convicted murderers of Altantuya Shaariibuu, who is now in Australia.

Since the Australian government cannot bring itself to return someone to Malaysia, where he will be facing the death penalty, the just and reasonable thing to do is to abolish the death penalty so that this other convicted killer of Altantuya can be extradited back to face justice in our country.

There is also no better time to reopen the Altantuya murder case, since the previous prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has been daring the Harapan government to reopen the Altantuya murder case, among other unresolved murder cases.

Let us not forget that on Jan 19, 2007, during the Altantuya murder case hearing, the High Court judge found the events in Abdul Razak Baginda’s affidavit suggested his involvement in the murder of his Mongolian lover Altantuya Shariibuu. While throwing out Razak’s bail application, Justice KN Segara said:

“The events clearly showed that there were enough grounds to prove that he abetted in the murder allegedly committed by two police personnel… Money was the real issue. He had Gurkhas and police friends to help him.” (As reported in The Star on Jan 20, 2007.)

In his affidavit, Abdul Razak (photo) claimed he had had meetings with police officers DSP Musa Safri and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri days before his mistress’ death.

During the trial, his counsel Wong Kian Kheong read out the events on the morning of Oct 18, 2006, when Azilah called Abdul Razak and told him that he had killed six or more people before and therefore could help stop the harassment by Altantuya.

This caused Justice Segara to interject: “You have got here a person who claims that he had killed before and he can settle your problem… And what is your problem? You were threatened by a woman and you wanted her out of sight. Period. Yet, you go on dealing with that police officer.

“The whole thing is here. He called the person to get rid of her. No need to go any further in relation to abetment. The police officer is no longer helping him as police. He is there in his personal capacity. This particular episode has fleshed the entire abetment act.”

Thus, apart from the murder of Altantuya, aren’t the Malaysian police and the Home Ministry interested in finding out who these six or more murder victims of Azilah are?

Inconsistencies surrounding the Altantuya case

Abdul Razak, accused of having ordered the murder, was acquitted in November 2008. He was acquitted without his defence being called while the two policemen charged, Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, were sentenced to the gallows for killing her.

After the verdict was made known, the government announced that it would not be appealing against Abdul Razak’s acquittal.

Sirul (photo) said he had been made a scapegoat by certain parties in the murder of Altantuya to protect their “evil plan”. The trial was deemed questionable by many observers.

Apart from painstaking attempts to keep then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s name from being mentioned in the trial and probing the motive for the murder, other irregularities included: the sudden removal of the presiding judge just before the trial started, without a plausible explanation to the lawyers; the changing of the head of the prosecution team at the last moment; the changing of the defence lawyers for the accused, and one alleging interference by “third parties” in his work.

In the case of the two convicted murderers of Altantuya, I don’t think full justice has been done to Altantuya, since the motive for her murder was never established by the court.

No pardons for murderers, please

If the death penalty is carried out, we will never know the full story of why they murdered the woman; whether she was connected with the purchase of the RM7 billion Scorpene submarines or if they were induced by people in power to murder her.

Sirul, as one of the convicted murderers of Altantuya, has said he is willing to reveal what happened in the case if he is given a full pardon to return to Malaysia.

Suaram says that unless Sirul can prove that he was not one of Altantuya’s murderers, he should not be pardoned if justice is to be done for Altantuya.

However, if he will spill the beans over the whole beastly affair, including his claim to have killed others before the Altantuya murder and show genuine remorse, there might be the possibility of plea bargaining in exchange for a shorter sentence.

KUA KIA SOONG is adviser to human rights organisation Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.