By Hardew
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6: “Since when the police have been given the authority to shoot dead a person that they have deemed a criminal?”
Speaking to the press, following the handover of an audio recording to the Bukit Aman police headquarters today by the families of three men who were shot dead by the police in Melaka on Nov 24, lawyer and former Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Latheefa Koya called on the police to run their investigations in a transparent manner and not attempt to cover up any wrong doing on their part.
The police’s action of justifying the shooting of the three for “being criminals” cannot be accepted as there are laws in this country and the police do not have any authority to shoot anyone they have called as criminals.
“How is someone decided a criminal? By law, this person will be charged, then given a trial and only upon found guilty, the person will be sentenced.
“So, who decides that the person is a criminal? The one who commits the killing of the criminal himself? So if the one who calls the victim a criminal and carries out the act of killing him, who do we believe then?And since when do we have a situation where the police have the right to kill the victim who they have deemed a criminal?
“We have laws. This is a country of laws. Even if the police wants to capture a person, they still do not have the right to shoot someone to death. There is none. If they want to call someone robbers, gang members, murderers and then justify the action saying if police do not kill them, “habis lah anak anak kita (that will be the end of our children)”. These are words that we have been hearing all this while whenever such incidents (shooting to death) happens.
Latheefa also cited the case of Aminulrasyid Amzah, a Malaysian teenager who was shot and killed by police in Shah Alam, Malaysia, in April 2010.
“What was his case? Was he a criminal? Even if he was, what was his crime? Driving a car, traffic offence? Should he have been killed for that? “
She also cited another incident of wrongdoing by the police where three siblings were killed in Glenmarie, and pointed out that todate there has been no apology whatsoever from the police to the said family.
“Everytime there is an incident of shoot out with fatalities, there are always claims by the police that machetes have been found at site.”
What is again unclear is the section under which the investigations are carried out, she said.
The investigation is now being carried out under Section 307, which is for an attempted murder.
“We now have three victims who have been shot to dead. Who attempted the murder? A victim who is now dead, did he attempt to murder a policeman?”
The police must be very transparent in investigating this case. If it is murder, then this case must be investigated under Section 302, she said.
“Don’t try to cover up. This is an attempt to cover up. Do not cheat the people, they are not stupid. And this time, we have strong evidence,” she said.
–WE