Update 10.30pm: ?!?!? Tweet from lawyer Latheefa Koya: 1 of the 3 witnesses Gunasegaran’s inquest, Selva has just bn arrested & beaten by the police wife called for help! What the hell!
So much on my mind, so little space/time for writing :( It may stay this way for a while, sorry! With some luck, there will be some explanation in the days to come.
Prelude: I also wanted to highlight this horror story of a ‘drug bust’ victim. This is far from the first time we’ve heard this kind of story, where ordinary Malaysians are bullied, put in jail for absolutely no reason, bullied, humiliated and extorted >:( This has been going on for years, and of course, the police continue to act with impunity – with a BN like attitude, as if they own the place >:(
For tonight, two stories, one on a Mr. Murugan, and the other on R. Gunasegaran. In both cases, I hope you’ll pardon me for borrowing the words of others.
Basically, tomorrow morning, (8.30am Teusday 26 Oct 2010. Sessions Court 5 (jen) 3rd Floor,Right Wing Jalan Duta Court) the courts will process what is likely the very last case involving the Hindraf rally 3 long years ago. From an e-mail:
I view with extreme outrage and concern at the Cononer’s “open verdict” in R.Gunasegaran’s death in police custody inquest – the latest in the long list of inquests where the magistrates acting as coroners have failed to discharge their duties to impartially inquire into the cause of death and find the perpetrators involved.
Coroner Siti Shakirah Mohtarudin like so many other previous coroners, went out of her way to protect the policemen and the hospital personnel involved in covering up for the police – in order to cast doubt into the cause of death so that an “open verdict” can be found. This effectively meant that the police are not to be blamed as the cause of death was not determined.
It is a scandal how she can arrive at an “open verdict” when there were 4 eyewitnesses to the deceased being assaulted by Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal Mat Taib. She even pondered whether the injuries could have been caused by efforts to resuscitate the deceased even though the medical officer testified that no effort was made at resuscitation!
It is shocking indictment of the poor standard of the country’s criminal justice system and lawlessness of the PDRM when so many people, mostly young men in good health can be detained by the police but end up dead. The situation is made worse when the medical authorities in charge of conducting post-mortems normally do a poor job as did the Kuala Lumpur Hospital in this instance, had even failed to store the body properly causing it to rot.
The overwhelming majority of deaths in police custody cases are only investigated internally by the police themselves which are obviously unsatisfactory. The few cases that are subjected to inquests have shown to be very slow and ineffective e.g. the inquest into the death of Ulaganathan Muniandy, then 19 years old in 2003 – after numerous postponements, has yet to be completed.
According to the Royal Commission on the Police report in 2005, there have only been 6 inquests carried out for the deaths of 80 people while in police custody between 2000 and 2004.
This trend of hospitals colluding with the police in covering up crimes, and the coroners stamping “open verdicts” in inquests cannot be allowed to continue as I fear that the serious damage done to these key state institutions’ credibility may be irreversible and may lead the rakyat into cynicism or worse take matters into their own hands as the rakyat simply cannot get justice.
The death of R. Gunasegaran, then only 31 years old at the Sentul Police Station, is neither an isolated incident nor the case of a few rotten apples but a wider and serious problem of the institutions’ lack of accountability, transparency and independence that allow such deaths to be covered up with no justice for the rakyat.
We must stop this rot before it is too late.
Released by:
R.Sivarasa
MP for Subang
Keadilan Vice President
So much on my mind, so little space/time for writing :( It may stay this way for a while, sorry! With some luck, there will be some explanation in the days to come.
Prelude: I also wanted to highlight this horror story of a ‘drug bust’ victim. This is far from the first time we’ve heard this kind of story, where ordinary Malaysians are bullied, put in jail for absolutely no reason, bullied, humiliated and extorted >:( This has been going on for years, and of course, the police continue to act with impunity – with a BN like attitude, as if they own the place >:(
For tonight, two stories, one on a Mr. Murugan, and the other on R. Gunasegaran. In both cases, I hope you’ll pardon me for borrowing the words of others.
Basically, tomorrow morning, (8.30am Teusday 26 Oct 2010. Sessions Court 5 (jen) 3rd Floor,Right Wing Jalan Duta Court) the courts will process what is likely the very last case involving the Hindraf rally 3 long years ago. From an e-mail:
All but one of those arrested and charged for the assembly around KLCC on 25 th Nov 2007 in the HINDRAF RALLY have have been forced to plead guilty for various reasons and have paid fines from RM 500 and above.Sounds like a worthy cause to support.
However, the lone fighter says he has done no wrong and has vowed not to pay a penny in fine.
This gentleman is prepared to take on the prosecutor himself if he has to.
Hearing of his plight, some political circles have offered help, but he prefers to steer clear of them for now.
I think Civil Society owes this gentleman a duty to defend his right and the right of all who attend a peaceful assembly. After all, this is an exemplary case of a common man standing his ground against the might of the bureaucracy.
Whatever happens in court tomorrow, let us be there with Murugan.
Let him know we appreciate him standing up against the the might of a biased system.
Let the powers-that-be know , that they cannot bully him; that Murugan is not alone.
*
The other case I wanted to highlight today was the findings of the Gunasegaran inquest. I reproduce below YB Siva’s statement on this sad matter :(I view with extreme outrage and concern at the Cononer’s “open verdict” in R.Gunasegaran’s death in police custody inquest – the latest in the long list of inquests where the magistrates acting as coroners have failed to discharge their duties to impartially inquire into the cause of death and find the perpetrators involved.
Coroner Siti Shakirah Mohtarudin like so many other previous coroners, went out of her way to protect the policemen and the hospital personnel involved in covering up for the police – in order to cast doubt into the cause of death so that an “open verdict” can be found. This effectively meant that the police are not to be blamed as the cause of death was not determined.
It is a scandal how she can arrive at an “open verdict” when there were 4 eyewitnesses to the deceased being assaulted by Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal Mat Taib. She even pondered whether the injuries could have been caused by efforts to resuscitate the deceased even though the medical officer testified that no effort was made at resuscitation!
It is shocking indictment of the poor standard of the country’s criminal justice system and lawlessness of the PDRM when so many people, mostly young men in good health can be detained by the police but end up dead. The situation is made worse when the medical authorities in charge of conducting post-mortems normally do a poor job as did the Kuala Lumpur Hospital in this instance, had even failed to store the body properly causing it to rot.
The overwhelming majority of deaths in police custody cases are only investigated internally by the police themselves which are obviously unsatisfactory. The few cases that are subjected to inquests have shown to be very slow and ineffective e.g. the inquest into the death of Ulaganathan Muniandy, then 19 years old in 2003 – after numerous postponements, has yet to be completed.
According to the Royal Commission on the Police report in 2005, there have only been 6 inquests carried out for the deaths of 80 people while in police custody between 2000 and 2004.
This trend of hospitals colluding with the police in covering up crimes, and the coroners stamping “open verdicts” in inquests cannot be allowed to continue as I fear that the serious damage done to these key state institutions’ credibility may be irreversible and may lead the rakyat into cynicism or worse take matters into their own hands as the rakyat simply cannot get justice.
The death of R. Gunasegaran, then only 31 years old at the Sentul Police Station, is neither an isolated incident nor the case of a few rotten apples but a wider and serious problem of the institutions’ lack of accountability, transparency and independence that allow such deaths to be covered up with no justice for the rakyat.
We must stop this rot before it is too late.
Released by:
R.Sivarasa
MP for Subang
Keadilan Vice President
No comments:
Post a Comment