‘Forget inquest, just book them for murder’

LFL and PKR officials note inconsistencies between the police version of the Glenmarie shooting and the post mortem report.

PETALING JAYA: Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) and two PKR officials have rejected the Selangor police chief’s call for an inquest into the last year’s fatal shooting of three young men in Glenmarie, saying the authorities should go ahead and charge the policemen involved.

The Selangor top cop, Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah, in suggesting an inquest into the death of Mohd Shamil Hafiz, Hairul Nizam Tuah and Mohd Hanafi Omar last Nov 13, also dismissed allegations that they died in an execution-style killing by police.

“There is absolutely no necessity for an inquest as there is clear and incontrovertible evidence that the three young victims were deliberately shot to death by the police,” Fadiah Nadwa Fikri of LFL said in a press statement, which was also signed by PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah Anwar and N Surendran.

The statement said there were inconsistencies between the police version of the incident and the post-mortem report of the deaths.

“The police had claimed that the victims had been shot dead when they rushed at police with machetes. This is inconsistent with the post-mortem finding of 45 degree angle bullet trajectory, indicating the victims were taken into custody and were kneeling before being shot,” it said.

“Also inconsistent with the police version, two of the victims had bullet wounds at the side of the head.”
The three activists said the inquest call was “another delaying tactic” intended to deflect public anger.
They said the policemen involved in the shooting should be charged with premeditated murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

“The Attorney-General must ensure this is done without further delay,” their statement said. “The victims’ families are entitled to swift justice and closure. We also call for charges to be brought under Section 203 Penal Code against all police officers, no matter how high-ranking, who gave false versions of this incident to the public.”