PUTRAJAYA: The father of murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu supports the review application filed by former police commando Azilah Hadri, who is seeking to have his death sentence commuted to imprisonment.
Lawyer J. Kuldeep Kumar, representing Azilah, read parts of a letter from Dr Shaariibuu Setev which spoke of "the sanctity of life" in court here on Thursday (Oct 10).
"As far as the impact on the victim's family, as far as that is concerned, we have the letter from the victim's father.
"He also asked us to mitigate the death sentence to life imprisonment," Kuldeep Kumar said.
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The lawyer was making a submission in Azilah's review application on his death sentence before a three-judge panel chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat at the Federal Court.
Other judges on the bench were Court of Appeal president Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Justice Nordin Hassan.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who held a watching brief for Altantuya's family, confirmed that she has the original copy of the said letter.
DPP Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar said the prosecution was not objecting to the letter.
"There is no dispute," he said, referring to the letter's authenticity.
Kuldeep Kumar also told the court of his client's background, where Azilah was brought up in hardship in a poor family in Sarikei, Sarawak.
He said Azilah persevered and became a policeman who served with various police contingents over the years.
He said his client had also received letters of recognition for solving cases such as armed robbery, drug trafficking and child kidnapping from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and the inspector-general police at that time.
Kuldeep Kumar said there was no evidence that Azilah was a serial killer nor did he commit the crime against Altantuya for sexual reasons.
"He did not benenfit monetarily from the murder. The prosecution also failed to prove any motive for the murder," he said.
The hearing is ongoing.
More to come
