Federal Court’s Altantuya murder verdict next Tuesday

(Malay Mail Online) – The Federal Court will decide next Tuesday on Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder trial after the prosecution appealed the acquittal of two ex-commandos accused of blowing her up with explosives.

The chief registrar’s office of the country’s highest court revealed the date in a tweet yesterday at @MYJudiciary.

“Decision of PP v Azilah & Sirul Azhar (Altantuya’s case) at Fed Court fixed on 13/1/2015 at 9.00 am. Follow us for full grounds of judgment,” the chief registrar’s office tweeted.

Lead prosecutor Datuk Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah told the Federal Court last June that the Court of Appeal had erred when it failed to consider evidence that Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, the two accused of murdering Altantuya in 2006, had easy access to explosives.

Tun Abdul Majid also said the Court of Appeal was wrong on the facts when the appellate court labelled the explosives that were used to blow up Altantuya, a 28-year-old model, as “C4”.

This was despite the prosecution never having described the explosives as “C4”, the government lawyer said, adding that the explosives used in Altantuya’s murder were PETN and RDX.

The Court of Appeal acquitted Azilah and Sirul in 2013, ruling that the High Court trial judge’s misdirection had rendered the 2009 death sentence and conviction unsafe.

Azilah and Sirul, both formerly with the police’s Special Action Unit (UTK), were found guilty in 2009 of murdering Altantuya in Mukim Bukit Raja in Klang between 10pm on October 19, 2006 and 1am on October 20, 2006.

During the course of their trial, it was revealed that the Mongolian model was shot and her body blown up with explosives in a jungle clearing on the night of October 19.

Former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was charged with abetting Azilah and Sirul in the murder but was acquitted on October 31, 2008, after the Shah Alam High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.

The prosecution did not appeal against the 2008 acquittal of Abdul Razak.