Federal Court dismisses Azilah's bid to review conviction in Altantuya murder
The Federal Court dismissed former police commando Azilah Hadri’s application to review his conviction and death sentence over the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
A five-person bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed unanimously denied the review application during open-court proceedings today.
The other members of the bench were Federal Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Zaleha Yusof, and Zabariah Mohd Yusof...
The Federal Court dismissed former police commando Azilah Hadri’s application to review his conviction and death sentence over the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
A five-person bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed unanimously denied the review application during open-court proceedings today.
The other members of the bench were Federal Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Zaleha Yusof, and Zabariah Mohd Yusof.
In reading out the unanimous ruling, Azahar ruled that there were no exceptional circumstances to justify the bench to allow the review under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995.
He said this in relation to Azilah’s review application, which was premised on the grounds that the applicant be allowed to adduce further evidence not adduced during the trial at the Shah Alam High Court.
The crux of the alleged new evidence is a statutory declaration (SD) dated Oct 17, 2019, in which Azilah claimed that former premier Najib Abdul Razak gave the order to kill Altantuya.
Azahar noted that Azilah kept silent about the “so-called new evidence” during police investigations, the trial at the High Court, and then subsequent appeals at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
“This so-called new evidence not available at the High Court and Court of Appeal was deliberately suppressed by the applicant (Azilah) himself.
“He withheld the evidence from his lawyer, the police, and the court.
“A reception of this so-called new evidence is not in accordance with legal principles,” Azahar said.
“We are of the view that on the face of the record it has not been shown there had been injustice in his (Azilah's) case.
“There were no grounds to say there was a breach of natural justice.
“There are no exceptional circumstances that call for a review. We, therefore, dismiss this review application,” Azahar (photo) ruled.
Azilah was represented by J Kuldeep Kumar while the prosecution was led by DPP Dusuki Mokhtar.
Counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah held a watching brief for Najib.
On Oct 30, it was reported that the Federal Court fixed today to hear Azilah’s review application, as well as Najib’s bid to intervene in the review.
The Federal Court dismissed Najib's intervener application during proceedings earlier today. It only allowed Shafee to hold a watching brief for Najib during today’s hearing of Azilah’s review.
When met by the media after proceedings, Shafee said that Najib’s legal team will be considering whether to file an application to expunge Azilah’s SD from court records.
Shafee claimed that the latest Federal Court ruling showed that the bench disbelieved the contents of the SD.
“They (Federal Court) disbelieved the SD. The SD is still in the court (system).
“We are considering whether to expunge (the SD) or not, whether it is worthwhile doing so or not.
“The (Federal) Court not only rejected via strong implication but also via a strong statement, which is that you yourself (Azilah) suppressed the evidence from the lawyer, court, and police,” Shafee (photo) said.
Azilah filed his review application on Dec 5 last year, coupled with his 32-page SD, where he alleged that the order to kill Altantuya originated from then deputy prime minister Najib.
Azilah, 43, sought an order to overturn his conviction and death sentence imposed by the Federal Court on Jan 13, 2015, as well as an order for the retrial of the case.
In December last year, Shafee reportedly claimed that his client Najib totally denied the allegations by Azilah.
Azilah and Sirul Azhar Umar, 47, were found guilty and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court in 2009 for Altantuya's murder.
The murder was allegedly perpetrated at Mukim Bukit Raja in Shah Alam between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am the following day in 2006.
The duo was, however, acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2013, which allowed their appeal to set aside their conviction and death sentence.
In 2015, the Federal Court overturned the acquittal of the two former police UTK officers and restored the High Court verdict of guilty against the duo.
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