Brothers arrested under EO despite being acquitted

Even though the EO will cease to exist in six months' time, police are still using it to detain two brothers.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Emergency Ordinance (EO) will be repealed in six months but police are still bent on using it as they have detained two brothers without trial.

The Alternative Action Team (AAT) submitted a memorandum to Suhakam, on behalf of a family from Ipoh claiming that the police had abused their powers by wrongfully detaining two of their family members under the EO.

AAT president B Kalaivanar said the brothers – S Murugan, 31, and S Ramakrishnan, 28 – were detained at their home in Batu Gajah in January over a murder case.

When taken to court, the siblings, who do odd jobs for a living, were acquitted of the charges.
“However, the police rearrested the duo on the spot for another murder case,” said Kalaivanar.

Subsequently, the duo were detained under the EO for 60 days at the Bagan Serai police station before being transferred to the Machang detention centre in March.

Criticising the police, Kalaivanar alleged that the police threw various accusations at the brothers just to justify their abuse of power in detaining them.

“They were accused of committing a murder in Batu Gajah and being involved in a jewellery shop heist. They were even accused of stealing a cow,” he said.

Main breadwinners

Kalaivanar urged the police to charge the duo in court so that Ramakrishnan and Murugan can get a trial to prove their innocence.

“While we have Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak revoking archaic laws such as the EO, the police seem to be bent on using it,” said Kalaivanar.

On the jewellery store robbery claims, Kalaivanar said that it was not necessary for the police to use the EO to arrest the duo as CCTV recording at the shop could lead them to the real culprit.

Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Shaani Abdullah promised to look into the matter, but reminded the family that the EO would only cease to exist in six months’ time.

“However, Suhakam is always against detention without trial. Everyone deserves a fair trial and we will check with the Home Ministry on this case,” he said.

Meanwhile, the detainees’ brother, S Prakash, 29, believed that his brothers are innocent and hoped the authorities would release them soon.

“It’s very hard for us now as they were our main breadwinners. Our father is also too old to go through all this,” said Prakash.