A change of heart by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) regarding the trio accused of causing the death of the detainee Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur has prompted outrage from Azlan’s family’s lawyer.
At a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, lawyer M Visvanathan (above) told reporters that the AGC is prosecuting the trio in criminal courts on one hand, while claiming in civil courts that there is new evidence that may exonerate them.
“Its like this. The left hand of the AGC is saying that we want to prosecute these fellas, we want to send them in for an offence under Section 304 (of the Penal Code). Serious offence.
“But the right hand of the AGC, the same institution, is now saying these three men never did anything wrong. They are afforded the protection of the AGC and do not need to engage private lawyers, we want to represent them because they did not do anything wrong.
“So I don’t know. Perhaps with this new Pakatan Harapan government, there is a new way of doing things under the new, able leadership of the new attorney-general.
“This is a ludicrous state of affairs. You cannot have the AGC making conflicting, bizarre decisions in this manner. It cannot be allowed,” he said.
The trio of police personnel was previously attached to the Kota Tinggi police district headquarters - Weddrin Mojingkin, Joshua Perait, and Muhammad Bunyamin.
They had been charged under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder which is punishable with up to ten years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The Kota Tinggi Sessions Court had acquitted and discharged them but the AGC filed a notice of appeal against the decision on Jan 4.
The appeal is still pending at the Johor Baru High Court and was scheduled to be heard starting yesterday until tomorrow.
In the meantime, Azlan’s family had filed a civil suit at the Johor Baru High Court against 14 respondents including the trio on Nov 1 last year to claim damages for Azlan’s death.
Visvanathan said AGC had at the time informed the court that the trio had committed their alleged wrongdoing on “the frolic of their own” and are therefore not entitled to be represented by the AGC’s federal counsel.
As neither the trio nor their representative attended the civil suit, the Johor Baru High Court entered judgement against them on Jan 23 this year ordering them to pay damages to Azlan’s family. The damages are to be assessed at a later date.
On the first day of hearing for the civil suit on Aug 13, however, the AGC submitted that it will be representing the trio, thus reversing its previous position.
In addition, it asked for the judgment-in-default dated Jan 23 to be set aside and for proceedings for the civil suit to be suspended pending disposition of the criminal trial.
Visvanathan told reporters that the senior federal counsel had told the court that new evidence had surfaced that may exonerate the trio and he said even the judge was stunned to hear this.
Same with the EC
Azlan, a welder, was arrested in the wee hours of Nov 3, 2014 and brought to the police station lock-up in Sungai Rengit, Johor. He died at the age of 25 years, several hours later.
An investigation by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) found 61 wounds on Azlan’s body that were consistent with defensive injuries and said police personnel had beaten him while in custody.
Meanwhile, PSM central committee member S Arutchelvan - who was also present at today's press conference - said the AGC should withdraw from representing the trio to avoid a conflict of interest.
He said this is the same stance that the AGC had taken on June 22 when it decided that it will not be representing the EC in election petitions following the 14th general election and the commission would thus have to hire private lawyers.
“Members of the government are invariably parties to such election petitions whether as members of parliament, state assemblypersons or defeated candidates so it is invidious for chambers to also act for the EC.
"As the neutral arbiter in the conduct of elections, the EC should not be represented by members of this chambers because of any potential conflict of interest and the perception that justice must be seen to be done," attorney-general Tommy Thomas had said at the time. -Mkini
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