Fugitive Altantuya killer Sirul never pleaded guilty

Sirul Azhar Umar and Azila Hadri convicted and sentenced to death although no witnesses and no guilty pleas.

KUALA LUMPUR: Fugitive former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, 42, convicted and sentenced to death along with former Chief Inspector Azila Hadri of murdering Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, said in a telephone conversation on Thursday withmalaysiakini that he never admitted to anything on the death of the deceased in 2006.

Sirul, held at the Villawood immigration detention centre in Sydney since January 21 after an Interpol red notice, is still maintaining that he acted under orders and was being made into a scapegoat.

He stressed that he was convicted based on circumstantial evidence, the test used in civil cases, and that there were no witnesses to the killing. “Circumstantial evidence is not as strong as direct evidence.”

The case came to light by a strange twist of circumstances when an angler fishing in the area, where Altantuya was shot and blown to bits by C4 explosive charges, reported to the nearest police station that he had heard a loud explosion coming from the nearby jungle.

Sirul, a father of two, had previously expressed dissatisfaction that his immediate superior and then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s aide, DSP Musa Safri, had not been cross-examined.

That Sirul and Azila had murdered Altantuya and blown up her body by using C4 explosives was virtually admitted by the former when he as good as made a confession from Australia, saying: “If I die today, I would not find peace. I did what I was told and this is what I get in return.”

Najib dismissed Sirul’s claim on Thursday as “utter rubbish” and “total rubbish”.

DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang  has since called on Najib to institute a thorough, comprehensive, independent (even international) investigation into Altantuya’s murder.

Further, he wants Najib to announce a reprieve of the death sentences imposed on Sirul and Azila for the murder until the outcome of such investigations.

Lim, who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, cites the evidence for his two demands viz:

Was Najib’s statement on Thursday on fugitive Sirul’s claim, that he acted under orders, exculpatory (evidence not admissible in a Trial) or incriminating (make someone appear guilty of a crime)?

The Prime Minister’s outburst, he reiterated, was either exculpatory or incriminating.

Lim conceded that it would be exculpatory if he was asserting that Sirul was talking “utter” or “total rubbish” that he murdered Altantuya in 2006 together with Azila under orders IF there were no such orders.

Najib implicated in allegations flying around on the Altantuya killing.

The question that immediately arises, according to Lim, is how Najib knows that the two convicted police commandos had not received any such orders from their superior to kill Altantuya and destroy evidence by blowing up her body using C4 explosives?

He can say there was no such “order” from him, but how could he say that there were no such “orders” from other people?

How can he be so sure?

Since he is also implicated in the allegations flying around, both inside the country and worldwide on the murder of Altantuya, Lim asks, “isn’t a thorough, comprehensive and independent (even international) investigation into the Altantuya’s murder, the best way to resolve the riddle?”