[ad_1]
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has rejected a request for review by former police command Azilah Hadri, who is seeking a new trial in the murder case of the Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
A five-man high court tribunal, headed by the chief judge of the Malaya judge, Azahar Mohamed, unanimously dismissed the request on the grounds that there was no judicial error in Azilah’s trial in the High Court.
The judge said that the plaintiff’s grounds for review were that he (the plaintiff) had presented further evidence, in the form of a legal statement (SD), which was not used in his trial in Superior Court.
In the SD, the plaintiff claimed to have carried out the act of murder on the alleged instruction of a third party.
Now, it should be noted that he was silent on this supposed new evidence during the investigation, during the trial in the Superior Court, in the appeal in the Court of Appeal, as well as in the Federal Court.
“This alleged material evidence that was available during the trial was deliberately suppressed by the plaintiff himself. He himself withheld the alleged evidence from the police, his lawyer and the courts.
“Clearly in our judgment, the introduction of so-called new evidence is not in accordance with established legal principles,” Judge Azahar said.
The court also said that the purpose of a judicial process was of fundamental importance in criminal justice and that there should be no further appeals after the Federal Court.
The court, therefore, does not have the power to reopen, hear again, reexamine the decision it made on January 13, 2015, except for its power of review pursuant to Rule 137 of the 1995 Federal Court Regulations.
However, Judge Azahar said the plaintiff has not shown that there is injustice in his case.
“There was no reason to say that there was a violation of natural justice. There was no judicial error.
“In our judgment, there were no exceptional circumstances that might require a review under Rule 137.
“Therefore, we reject this request for review,” he added.
Other judges on the bench were Federal Court judges, Judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Zaleha Yusof and Zabariah Mohd Yusof.
Deputy Prosecutor Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar appeared for the defendant (Chamber of the Attorney General), while Azilah was represented by attorney J. Kuldeep Kumar.
On December 5, 2019, Azilah submitted the request for review, along with his 32-page legal statement in which he claimed that the order to kill Altantuya came from former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was then Deputy Prime Minister.
The 43-year-old man sought to overturn his conviction and death sentence by the Federal Court on January 13, 2015, and a new trial order.
Najib filed a motion in Federal Court to be named intervener in Azilah’s request for review on the grounds that the SD contained serious allegations against him, but the higher court dismissed this request.
The Federal Court said that the result of the request for review would not have affected Najib in any way, as he was not prosecuted or charged with the crime.
Azilah and another former police commando, Sirul Azhar Umar, 47, were found guilty and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court in 2009 for the murder of Altantuya in Mukim Bukit Raja in Shah Alam between 10 p.m. on 19 October and 1 a.m. the next day in 2006.
However, they were released and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2013, allowing their appeal to overturn their conviction and death sentence.
In 2015, the Federal Court annulled the acquittal of the two police commandos and reinstated the High Court decision that found them guilty of the crime.
As a death row inmate, Azilah could still apply for clemency to the Board of Pardons for his conviction for the murder of the 28-year-old Mongol.
[ad_2]
