> Was Altantuya murdered?

The Shah Alam High Court will decide tomorrow if three individuals have to enter their defence to a charge of murdering Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu. 

She was allegedly shot before her body was blown up with explosives two years ago.

In the dock are Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32 and Corporal Sirul Azha Umar, 37, who are members of the Special Action Force (UTK), an elite police unit.

They are jointly charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 in Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor between 10am on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the following day.

Prominent political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them. He is a known confidante to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, having worked on government arms procurement projects while the latter was defence minister.

The prosecution closed its case against the trio on June 23 after 151 days of testimony from 84 witnesses. 

Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin will decide tomorrow if the prosecution has succeeded in making a prima facie case. In doing so, he will rely on some 6,000 pages of notes of proceedings and written submissions. 

Blood, jewelry and explosives

DPP Tun Majid Tun Hamzah, in his submission at the end of the prosecution case in August, argued that there was enough circumstantial evidence that Azilah and Sirul were together at the murder scene.

He further pointed towards other evidence including the deceased’s blood-stained slippers that were found in Sirul Azha’s vehicle and her jewelry that was found in his house. 

Tun Majid (right) also submitted that the explosive residue from the murder scene was similar to explosives used by the UTK.

Should Justice Mohd Zaki rule that Azilah, Sirul and Abdul Razak have to enter their defence, the trio will have the opportunity to testify. 

But if the judge rules otherwise, they are likely to be acquitted and discharged. They have been held at the Sungai Buloh prison since they were charged in November 2006 - Malaysiakini.