Hold inquiries into all custodial deaths, NGO tells AG (FMT)

 # Note, the law, Criminal Procedure Code already says that the Coroner must hold INQUESTs for all deaths, and especially Death in Custody. So, there is NO need for a Court Order and no need for the AG to do anything. The Coroner(now a Session Court Judge) is duty bound by law to do INQUEST without anyone askinghim/her to do the inquiry into death. See MADPET's earlier statement -

Contempt Proceedings Against Home Minister and Others for failure to complete inquest in death in custody cases as directed by the Judiciary?

 Hold inquiries into all custodial deaths, NGO tells AG

FMT Reporters

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February 7, 2022 9:14 AM

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Police say there have been seven deaths in custody in the first five weeks of this year. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: An NGO has urged the attorney-general to conduct inquiries into every death in custody in the country.

This comes after police reported seven cases of custodial deaths in the first five weeks of 2022.

Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (CAGED) also called on the authorities to answer several questions linked to these deaths.

In one of the cases, it said, police had revealed that two detainees and two officers had been remanded for investigation, but their remand order expired on Jan 20.

“Has anyone been charged?” CAGED asked in a statement, adding that it wanted to know if police had also treated anyone as suspects in the other six cases.

It also questioned if the completed investigation reports would be submitted to the coroner within one month of each death, as promised by police to the police reform commission.

“WIll the Royal Malaysia Police ask the coroner to conduct inquiries into all deaths in custody?” it said, adding that Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Code mandated that every death in police custody must be investigated by a coroner.

CAGED also pointed to the lack of consistency in announcements on the custodial deaths.

“For instance, the ethnicity of victims has been revealed only in four of the seven announcements and the remand dates have not been released for the sixth victim,” it said.

It also said the names of the victims had also been withheld by police and demanded an explanation for it. - FMT, 7/2/2022