Top Malaysian court condemns two police to death for 2006 murder of Mongolian model
Top court overturns acquittal in killing of Mongolian woman in 2006
Malaysia's top court yesterday sentenced two police officers to death by hanging, after overturning their acquittal by a lower court over the killing of a Mongolian woman who had an affair with a friend of the country's prime minister.
The verdict ended an eight-year saga surrounding the high-profile case that the opposition has repeatedly sought to link to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The officers were the only suspects found guilty of shooting Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006 and blowing up her body with military explosives. Opposition leaders have repeatedly said that Najib must have had a role in approving the killing, but the prime minister has denied any links.
A High Court judge in 2009 sentenced the officers to be hanged, but the Court of Appeals acquitted them in 2013.
Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah said a five-member Federal Court panel unanimously ruled yesterday that the prosecution had proven its case and that the Court of Appeals was wrong in reversing the findings of the trial court.
The prosecution had contended that the murder of Shaariibuu, 28, was ordered by her former lover Abdul Razak Baginda, a prominent defence analyst, after their affair ended. Razak Baginda had been in charge of purchasing submarines on behalf of the Malaysian government and was a close associate of current Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was defence minister at the time of the deal.