The families of the three youths, including a 15-year old, allegedly forced to kneel before they were shot to death in cold blood have rejected the police’s call for an inquest into their deaths.
Speaking through their lawyers, N Surendran and legal rights group Lawyers for Liberty, the families reiterated their demand that all the police personnel involved in the shooting be charged under s.302 Penal code for premeditated murder.
“We view the call for an inquest by the police as another delaying tactic intended to deflect public anger following yesterdays revelation of the post-mortem findings,” they said in a statement issued through Surendran and LFL.
“We are also surprised and shocked by the police claim that the investigation into the shooting is still not complete. Considering that seven months have passed since the shooting, this is clearly another excuse and attempt to delay taking any action the policemen involved. We also call for charges to be brought under s 203 Penal Code against all police officers, no matter how high-ranking, who gave false versions of this incident to the public.”
Damage control
A day after Surendran, who is also the PKR vice president, revealed the shocking autopsy reports, Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah made haste to call a press conference in a bid to damage-control.
The police had done the same with Ahmad Sarbani deathfall case after PKR leaders led a small protest to the police headquarters in Bukit Aman, demanding that the Inspector General of Police took immediate action. The next day, police announced they would recommend an inquest, which Sarbani’s family also rejected as a bid by the authorities to buy time.
On Friday, Tun Hisan told reporters they would also recommend to the Attorney General to hold an inquest on the Glenmarie shootout. He said police investigations were still incomplete, but PKR leaders lambasted him for the delay as 7 months have already elapsed since the boys died on November 13.
“We will submit the papers to the DPP’s office as soon as we complete investigations,” Tun Hisan told the press.
Victim families
Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, and Hanafi Omar, 22, were gunned down by the police, who claimed they shot the trio in self-defence. According to the cops, the youths had charged at the officers withparangs or machetes at the end of the car chase.
But the boys’ families have always insisted they were innocent and not part of any gang, a claim that appears to have been substantiated by the post-mortem reports obtained by Surendran two days ago.
Their disappointment and anger at the belated and lame response from the police must mirror that of the Ahmad Sarbani family. 56-year-old Sarbani was an assistant director of Selangor Customs, who died in mysterious circumstances after visiting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s office in Cheras in early April.
Like in the case of another MACC deathfall victim, Teoh Beng Hock, the agency claimed that Sarani committed suicide but his family, like the Teohs, are adamant foul play was involved.
The Glenmarie families are the latest victims of the apathy and tacit condoning of murder by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government. They join a growing line of such victim families, who in the past years have been forced to accept the government line.
Car theft suspect Kugan Ananthan’s mom is still distraught over the way her 22-year old first-born was beaten and tortured to death in police custody. Numerous other families including R Gunasegaran are forced to await justice at the lesiure of Najib and his ruling UMNO party.
Growing impunity
In the case of the Glenmarie boys, the police – then led by acting chief A Thaiveeganwere – were so emboldened as to even accused the trio of being “seasoned criminals” and part of a notorious “Geng Minyak” alleged involved in a series of robberies in the Subang Jaya area.
“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 findings of 45 degree angle bullet trajectory indicating the victims were taken into custody and were kneeling before being shot,” said Surendran.
“Also inconsistent with the police version, two of the victims had bullet wounds at the side of the head. The post-mortem reports were signed by qualified forensic pathologists from Tengku Ampuan Rahimah General Hospital. These findings are enough at law to bring murder charges against all police personnel involved in the shooting.” – Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle, Friday, 10 June 2011 17:03