Altantuya...you're dabomb

" bang, bang than...Altantuya, we are sorry "

Karpal's application for judge to withdraw from case was rejected

The High Court which resumed the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial here rejected the application by Karpal Singh, who is acting as counsel for the family of the Mongolian woman, for the trial judge to withdraw from handling the case.Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yassin made the decision when the hearing resumed today after being postponed on June 4. Earlier, Karpal had made an oral application for the judge to withdraw, citing family ties between Mohd Zaki and one of the defence counsels as grounds for the aplication.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah later objected the grounds raised by Karpal as being too remote.Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 46, is accused of abetting two policemen in killing the woman in October last year.Abdul Razak is charged with abetting Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, from the Special Action Force (UTK) to commit the murder.

Abdul Razak's wife, Mazlinda Makhzan, and daughter Roweena, together with his parents and mother-in-law arrived at the court as early as 7.30 am. Roweena, 20, attracted the crowd's attention for wearing a black jacket and t-shirt with the words "Roweena Razak Baginda" printed in front while on her back were the words "And I'm Proud Of It".

Summary of Altantuya Case:

The Mongolian Altantuya Shaaribuu body was blown to bits in one of the most brutal murders in Malaysia. The 28-year-old woman is the eldest daughter of Dr Shaaribuu Setev. She was an interpreter and translator. She has two sons aged 10 and 5.

The accused were Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar joinly charge for murdering Altantuya between 10pm on 19 Oct and 1am on 20 Oct 2006 at lots 12843 & 16735 in Mukim Bukit Raja, Shah Alam.

Abdul Razak Baginda, a well-known political analyst heading the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, a local think-tank. He was also charge of abetting the two policemen between 9.54am on 18 Oct and 9.45pm on 19 Oct 2006 in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

Read from Bernama, more news report from IHT and interesting read and discussion from this blogs at Elizabeth Wong and Susan Loone.

Tags|Human rights|Malaysian|Hatzputra