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PETALING JAYA: The Singapore Court of Appeal overturned an earlier death sentence that was imposed on Gobi Avedian, a Malaysian who was convicted of drug trafficking.
Lawyer M. Ravi said Singapore’s high court reviewed its earlier decision to sentence Gobi to death for a judicial error.
The 34-year-old Gobi will instead serve a 15-year prison sentence that the High Court imposed on him in 2017.
“The Court of Appeal concluded that the above decision is demonstrably incorrect and Gobi has suffered a judicial error,” Ravi said on Monday (October 19).
Ravi said the case made court history in Singapore because all legal avenues had run their course, including an appeal for clemency that had been rejected by the President of Singapore.
“It is very difficult to get authorization to reopen the case in the Court of Appeals, and it is not easy to overturn a death sentence,” said Ravi, who has been fighting for the reopening of several similar cases. .
Ravi said Gobi wanted his mission in Malaysia to be to work on death penalty cases.
Gobi, who was a security guard, had been charged in High Court with importing 40.22 g of heroin, but the judge believed his version that he did not know that the packages he was carrying contained heroin and reduced his charge.
In 2017, Gobi was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the High Court, but following an appeal by the prosecution, the Court of Appeal convicted him on the original charge.
Lawyer’s For Liberty adviser N. Surendran said they were delighted with the stunning decision and it gives them cautious hope about the other cases of Malaysians facing hanging in Singapore.
“It shows the will of the court to review its decision. It gives us some hope, albeit with caution, for the other cases, ”he said.
Gobi was previously informed by the Strait times having earned between S $ 1,400 (RM4,226) and S $ 1,850 (RM5,585) a month as a security guard, and who resorted to transporting drugs because he needed money to pay for his daughter’s medical expenses.
RM500 was offered for each package of “chocolate medicine” delivered to Singapore.
Gobi was reported to have said he delivered drugs to Singapore “eight or nine” times before being caught at the Woodlands checkpoint on December 11, 2014.
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