PUTRAJAYA (Oct 10): Former chief inspector Azilah Hadri, the Special Action Unit officer convicted of murdering Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu 18 years ago, has had his death sentence commuted to 40 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the rotan.

Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who sat with Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Nordin Hassan, allowed Azilah’s review on Thursday.

Earlier, the court was informed of a letter by Altantuya’s father, Dr Shaariibuu Setev, supporting Azilah’s review of his death sentence to be commuted to life in prison, which means between 30 and 40 years plus 12 strokes of the rotan.

Tengku Maimun indicated that the bench was unanimous in its decision and considered the letter from Shaariibuu in commuting the death sentence.

The CJ said the matter before the court pertained only to a review of the death sentence, and the court would not be reviewing the conviction itself, which Azilah was not challenging.

“The court here has the additional affidavit by the applicant [that also contains Azilah’s statutory declaration made in 2019], and the letter [by Shaariibuu], which has not been challenged by the prosecution. These are strong mitigating factors and valid reasons for us to exercise our discretion in favour of the applicant.

“The affidavit provides grounds for us to apply the proportionality principle, and the affidavit also exhibits a letter from the victim’s father, who expressly supported this application by the applicant for the death sentence to be commuted to life.

“For these reasons, this court is setting aside the death sentence, and is sentencing the applicant to 40 years, and for him to be given 12 strokes of the rotan, and the prison sentence is to run from Nov 1, 2006, excluding the period where he was released by the Court of Appeal,” Tengku Maimun said.

Earlier, the letter was produced to the bench by Altantuya’s family lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo.

Azilah’s counsel, J Kuldeep Kumar, read the contents of the letter, and also pointed to Azilah’s statutory declaration produced in the case — that he had acted under orders from then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Azilah’s superior, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Musa Safri, to take action to eliminate Altantuya, who was considered a foreign spy that possessed national secrets.

Kuldeep said Azilah was hesitant and asked both of them (Najib and Musa) to lodge a police report, which they did not. But considering that Musa was his superior in the aide-de-camp division to accompany VIPs, he had to obey the order. (Musa was also the aide de camp to Najib at the time.)

The lawyer said there was no motive for Azilah to kill the victim, other than to fulfil the order, as he was trained to do.

“My client was thinking he was committing the order for the nation, following allegations that Altantuya was a foreign spy. Being a Special Action Unit member who was involved in covert operations, there were no memos issued to carry out the directive, as they believed [the allegations against Altantuya to be true] and carried [out the order] out of national interest."

Kuldeep said Azilah had to carry out the mission as he was at the time a police officer doing his duty, and he did not deserve to be sentenced to death.

When carrying out the order, the lawyer said Azilah went to Bukit Aman, saw former corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, and roped him in to carry out the task. (These contents were cited from Azilah’s statutory declaration in 2019).

Azilah had affirmed a statutory declaration in the application for a review of his conviction and sentence, where Najib had applied to intervene following the allegations. However, Azilah failed in his review in 2020.

Kuldeep also brought up the matter of the proportionality of the sentence, as political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who was charged with abetment to the murder, was acquitted, and the prosecution did not file an appeal at the Court of Appeal, while co-accused Sirul Azhar was a free man in Australia.

“Public interest would not be served if only one man is put to death. Furthermore, the Shah Alam High Court had found all three — Azilah, Sirul Azhar, and Abdul Razak — liable for Altantuya’s death, and ordered the family to be compensated with RM5 million,” Kuldeep said, adding that the victim’s father is another strong mitigating factor for the commutation of the death sentence to imprisonment.

The lawyer said Azilah was no danger to society, as he had previously served former prime ministers Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib, and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had even given him accolades.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Dusuki Mokhtar, who opposed the commutation to imprisonment, cited that public interest should be taken into consideration, as the incident shocked the community and country.

“The fact is she (Altantuya) was shot and blown up to pieces,” he said.

When asked by the bench regarding Azilah acting on instructions, Dusuki concurred it could be considered a mitigating factor, but at that point, the appellant should be considered to possess a guilty mind.

Dusuki said Azilah possessed a guilty mind (in committing the crime), and the allegations in his statutory declaration — that Altantuya was a foreign spy and held important information about the state — which was filed in the application for a review of his conviction and sentence, was only made in 2019 (after Barisan Nasional's loss in a general election).

In carrying out the instructions, the actions had to be determined under the due process of the law.

“The issue that [Altantuya] was a foreign spy was not an issue raised in the High Court, and was only raised in his review application. However, the review of his conviction was dismissed by the Federal Court,” Dusuki added.

After a short recess, the court came to its decision.

It is worth noting that Tengku Maimun had written the unanimous decision at the Court of Appeal stage, which acquitted Azilah and Sirul Azhar, where the bench found that the prosecution's failure in not calling DSP Musa was fatal to the case.

When met after proceedings, Kuldeep, who appeared with Athari Bahardin, said Azilah was thankful for Shaariibuu’s gesture in supporting his review application.

The lawyers opined that with the sentence of 40 years, Azilah is expected to be released in 2034, after factoring in remission. Currently, Azilah has been placed in the Sungai Buloh Prison after being moved from Kajang Prison in August 2022, following Najib moving into Kajang Prison to serve his prison sentence for the first SRC International Sdn Bhd criminal case.

“The court accepted Shaariibuu’s letter and Azilah’s affidavit of support that also contained his 2019 statutory declaration, which was not rebutted in this decision,” Kuldeep said.

When met outside the court, Sangeet said that Shaariibuu had come to write the letter in August, as he did not support the death penalty and informed Kuldeep of it.

The lawyer for the slain Mongolian said that according to the letter, the father also hoped that the reduction in sentence could be applied to Sirul Azhar, should he want to return home.

“He is a strong believer of not imposing the death sentence. On behalf of the family, I think the 40 years’ jail and 12 strokes [of the rotan] are a fair sentence,” Sangeet said, adding that Altantuya’s father, as stated in the letter, also wanted a quick resolution of the civil suit, where the High Court awarded RM5 million damages, but which is pending an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Dusuki told reporters outside the court that this was not the first time that a murder victim’s family had given a letter of support for a sentence review, as prior to this, there was such support for a case in Sabah.

On Sirul Azhar, the DPP said that it would be up to the government to decide whether to extradite him to bring him home.

Read also:
Altantuya's father affirms letter backing Azilah's appeal to commute death sentence to life imprisonment
Najib seeks to intervene in ex-UTK officer Azilah's bid to set aside conviction in Altantuya case
Azilah to know the fate of his review on Thursday
Azilah, Sirul, Razak Baginda and Govt found liable in Altantuya's death, ordered to pay RM5m damages