Sessions court shifts Anwar’s sodomy case to High Court, appeals pending

(Suara keADILan) – The Sessions Court has transferred the sodomy trial involving Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to the High Court, overriding objections from his lawyers who are afraid he may not get a fair hearing at the higher court.

Judge Rozana Ali Yusoff made the ruling. She was sitting in for SM Komathy Suppiah, who was on leave.

Nevertheless, Anwar has already filed the notices of appeal with the High Court registry and Court of Appeal and these must be heard before the trial can proceed.

Fear of bias from the AG

The Permatang Pauh MP is against the transfer to the High Court because it was requested by Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, who is still under investigation for alleged tampering of evidence over Anwar’s ‘black eye’ incident in 1998

However, the High Court last week ruled that a certificate of transfer issued by Abdul Gani was valid, rejecting the objections raised by the defense team.

The 61-year old Anwar was charged with sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, at the Desa Damansara condominium some time on June 26, 2008.

The charges were preferred at the Sessions Court and Abdul Gani had later tried to move the case to a higher court.  His request was turned down by Komathy, who had ruled that the transfer certificate was invalid because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had previously given a public assurance that Abdul Gani would not be involved in the sodomy trial.

Anwar has denied the charges, which he says were fabricated by his political enemies. But if convicted, he could face up to 20 years in jail. He is currently on a personal bond of RM20,000.