Govt’s appeal over Anwar Sodomy II starts tomorrow
Rita Jong, TMI
The government’s appeal against opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy acquittal will be heard at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya for two days, starting tomorrow.
Anwar was freed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in January last year of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at the Desa Damansara condominium between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 2008.
The much publicised trial saw local and foreign journalists covering it extensively.
The judge who presided over the case, Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah had acquitted the opposition leader after questioning the integrity of the samples taken in the case.
He had ruled the samples were tampered with and were not safe to reply on the DNA results obtained by the chemist as the investigating officer DSP Jude Pereira had opened the plastic bag containing samples.
With that, Anwar was freed at the end of the defence stage.
Twenty-seven prosecution witnesses and seven witnesses testified in the trial, which spanned more than three years.
Anwar himself had testified in his defence, from the dock. His case received much hype not only on the alleged incident alone, but there were also subsequent incidents, which added to the drama following the trial.
Former solicitor-general II, Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, who led the prosecution team, had retired early last year and entered into private practice after the trial ended.
