KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 (Bernama) -- The sodomy trial of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim enters its second day with Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan continuing his testimony in-camera at the request of Anwar's lawyers.
Anwar arrived at the court room at 10.02am and the hearing started at 10.30am.
Ramkarpal Singh Deo, who is among Anwar's lawyers, said Mohd Saiful was still under examination-in-chief by Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden.
The one-time Anwar special aide was the first witness to take the stand when the trial opened before High Court Judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah inside a packed court Wednesday.
The in-camera session lasted for 30 minutes, after which the trial judge, prosecution and defence, including Anwar, left at 11.43am to visit the condominium where the alleged offence took place.
Mohd Saiful, accompanied by his lawyer Zamri Idrus, also joined them.
The trial is expected to resume in open court in the afternoon.
The 63-year-old Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor and Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh is charged with sodomising Mohd Saiful at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.
He is charged under Section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail and whipping upon conviction. The trial takes place 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008.
Anwar's lead counsel Karpal Singh had asked for Mohd Saiful's testimony to be heard in-camera when the latter, under the prosecution's examination-in-chief, was describing what happened in the condominium that day.
Mohd Saiful, 25, told the court that Anwar had asked him for sex at the condominium after he went there to hand over documents to Anwar and discuss their work schedule.
In his testimony, he said he had worked for Anwar for four months, from early March 2008 to June 28 of the same year, and stopped being Anwar's special aide because he did not want to be sodomised by Anwar any more.
No comments:
Post a Comment