Thursday, November 6, 2014

SODOMY II IS THE LONGEST MALAYSIA CRIMINAL APPEAL HEARING AT FEDERAL LEVEL

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The Federal Court's hearing of Opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his sodomy conviction enters its seventh day today, making it the longest criminal appeal hearing at the apex level. 
Criminal lawyers told The Malaysian Insider that appeals for criminal cases at the Federal Court usually last three days.
The court had originally fixed October 28 and 29 to hear submissions by the defence and prosecution in Anwar's case, where the opposition leader is appealing a conviction for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. 
The hearing was extended due to the volume of submissions, with the defence and prosecution taking about three days each.
The prosecution, led by government-appointed private lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, completed submissions on Tuesday by painting Saiful as a victim of sexual abuse and laying the burden of proof on the defence to prove the sodomy. 
Anwar's defence team, led by retired Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, will give a closing reply this morning. 
Co-counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo is expected to begin the closing statement with rebuttals to Shafee on DNA evidence. 
The defence is seeking to restore the findings by the trial court, which acquitted Anwar, that the DNA evidence tendered in the case was inconclusive. 
Police presence outside the Palace of Justice courthouse in Putrajaya today is the strongest yet in all the days of the hearing. 
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider, Putrajaya OCPD ACP Abdul Razak Abdul Majid declined to give exact numbers but said "there are enough personnel to handle any incident". 
Strike Force personnel were seen gathering some distance away from the courthouse.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

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