Mystery witness to testify against Air Force

A mystery witness has come forward to take the stand as former airman N Tharmendran seeks to quash his charge of stealing two RMAF jet engines in the Shah Alam High Court.

Judicial commissioner Asmabi Mohamad has today set Aug 25 to hear Tharmendran's motion to quash his charge. This is to allow both the prosecution and defence time to file the necessary documents in view of the new witness.

N Surendran (right in photo), the defence's lead counsel, said the witness had seen first-hand the physical abuse of military detainees, allegedly tortured at around the same time as Tharmendran's.

"The witness will testify that physical abuse is practised routinely (by the military)," Surendran said outside the court.

He said the defence will reveal the identity of the witness when Tharmendran's motion to quash his charges is heard at the end of the month.

The defence is also asking the court to "interfere" in Tharmendran's case as Surendran claimed that the prosecuting authorities had grossly abused their position in pushing for a quick conviction.

According to Surendran, the latest act of intimidation was on June 21 when a police assistant superintendent accompanied by another officer interrogated Tharmendran, who is currently remanded at the Sungai Buloh prison.

"This proves that the authorities are using under-handed tactics to secure a conviction. They forced Tharmendran to make a statement on his alleged torture and asked many questions regarding the jet engine theft,” he said.

"This has never happened before - where someone is interrogated even after he is charged. We are asking the court to interfere because Tharmendran will never get a fair trial."

Hope for more victims to emerge

Surendran however is optimistic that with the new witness coming forward, it would encourage more victims to speak out against the military.

Tharmendran had previously told Malaysiakini that he had beentortured by military intelligence officers while being interrogated during an internal probe.

In a related development, Surendran will have to reply to four affidavits, including two by Tharmendran's alleged torturers, who denied the claim.

Tharmendran was jointly charged with company director K Rajandran Prasad in the Petaling Jaya Sessions court in connection with the theft of two RMAF jet engines in 2007.

Their trial has been postponed pending the outcome of Tharmendran's application at the Shah Alam High Court to strike out his charge on grounds that it is an abuse of court process and frivolous.

courtesy of Malaysiakini