Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (EDICT) chairman M Visvanathan said the attorney-general must give his guarantee that he will not be appealing the decision to “reflect justice” for the family.
“Thomas has to come up with a statement immediately that he is not going to pursue a civil appeal in this case, to show his personal outrage against the injustice that happened,” he told reporters here today.
Last week, the High Court in Johor Bahru awarded RM383,300 to the father of former welder Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur, after finding the police liable for causing him injuries leading to his death.
Justice See Mee Chun said the decision will send a strong message to the police that they must act according to the Federal Constitution and relevant laws.
She said the court had to come down hard on the enforcement agency as the life of a person had been unlawfully taken away.
Visvanathan also demanded that Thomas explain his decision to defend the three policemen in the civil case, as the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) were also prosecuting them in a separate case in the criminal court.
“The AGC wants to prosecute these three people and send them to jail and, at the same time, the AG, through civil action, says they did not do anything wrong.
“It is illogical, an absurd situation, for the AG to allow the AGC to defend the people who are said to have caused Azlan’s death.”
Visvanathan said he had told Thomas in person his decision did not make any sense, adding that former AG Mohamed Apandi Ali had previously chosen not to defend the policemen.
He also said the trio had been acquitted and discharged in the criminal case in the High Court in August, adding that he did not know if Thomas would be appealing the decision.
Visvanathan also highlighted how one of the inspectors had been promoted to assistant superintendent (ASP) just two years after the incident.
“Do the police’s actions reflect justice for Azlan? To me, it’s saddening. It’s as if they are toying with the country’s justice system,” he said.
He said cases of deaths in custody were happening frequently, adding that he had been alerted to yet another case in Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur.
He urged Putrajaya to revert to the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) draft formulated by a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on police reforms in 2005, saying the 2019 bill was significantly weaker than its predecessor.
He said millions of taxpayer’s money had been spent on the RCI’s 2005 bill and questioned why the government was not making use of it.