7 out of 9 Policemen who 'tortured' charged in court ...

Well, sometimes they do charge policemen...

The witnesses are going to be police personnel at the scene of the alleged crime...and maybe the Judge should have ordered them not to speak or have any dealings with the policemen at the said police station as well...

There may also policemen who may provide alibi for the accused persons..

Important that these kind of cases are proceeded forthwith...and maybe even witnesses are deposed. Take and record the evidence of the witnesses now - to prevent any change of testimony later on for whatever reasons...

Seven policemen pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Thursday to two counts of causing hurt to two youths in separate incidents at the Brickfields police station last year.

They are Sargeant Mohd Shafiee Abdul Halim, Sargeant Mohd Diah Sulaiman, Sargeant Zulkiplly Taib, Corporal Abdullah Musa, Corporal Zamrin Zaid, Lance Corporal Matila @ Saudi Ismail and Lance Corporal Nizam Abd Wahab, all from the crime investigation department at the Brickfields district police headquarters.

They are charged with voluntarily causing hurt to B. Prabakar, 28, at a detective's office at the police station with an intention to make him confess to an offence for criminal intimidation under Section 506 of the Penal Code.

The offence was alleged to have been committed between 10.15pm on Dec 23 and 3.30am on Dec 24 last year.

On the second charge, they are alleged to have committed a similar offence at the same place and time on C. Solomon Raj, 18.

The policemen, who are between 35 and 45 years old, are charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession, to be read together with Section 34 of the same code.

If found guilty, they could be imprisoned up to seven years and fined.

Judge Zainal Abdil Kamarudin allowed bail of RM5,000 each and set Feb 17 to mention the case.

He also told them not to leave the city without the court's permission and not to disturb the complainants and witnesses in the case. - Star, 15/1/2009, Seven cops plead not guilty to hurting two youths

Malaysiakini tells us more about this case

Seven policemen were charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today in connection with the case of a 27-year-old man and 18-year-old teenager being allegedly scalded with hot water at the Brickfields police district headquarters.

The seven were charged under Section 506 and Section 304 of the Penal Code for collectively committing an act of criminal intimidation and voluntary causing hurt to extort a confession.

Those charged were Sgt Mohd Shafiee Abdul Halim, Sgt Mohd Diah Sulaiman, Sgt Zulkiplly Taib, Cpl Abdullah Musa, Cpl Zamrin Zaid, L/Cpl Matila @ Saudi Ismail dan L/Cpl Nizam Abdul Wahab from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

They were accused of committing the offence against B Parabakar (left) and C Solomon between 10.15pm on Dec 23 and 3.30am on Dec 24. - Malaysiakini, 15/1/2009 - 'Hot water torture': Seven cops charged

However, there was apparently 9 who were involved, and only 7 were charged - WHY?

Solomon, one of the two victims is allegedly still missing - seen last on 28/12/2008 by Prabakar

Prabakar, who was present, said that he was unhappy that only seven policemen were identified and prosecuted.

“When I gave my statement, I said there were nine of them,” he said, adding that when he was called for an identification parade only seven policemen were in the line-up.

'Case not an isolated matter'

Prabakar's lawyer, N Surendran (left), lamented that the case was not an isolated matter and raised concerns about the attitude of the police force.

“The police seem to be routinely doing this (brutality) when arresting a suspect [...] for example, beating with a rubber hose on the soles of the feet, we know this to be a routine thing [...] I feel it is safe to say the police do it in the routine way,” he said.

“I have been practising law for 15 years and I have come across many incidents of clients who have related the same stories...and yet nothing seems to be done in order to remedy the situation.

“So it won't be an exaggeration for us to say that many of our police lock-ups are little more than torture chambers, used by the police in order to oppress and treat suspects in the most shocking manner.”

In addition, Surendran claimed that there must be something unstable about individuals who performed such brutality.

“To actually do this to another human being, one must be in some manner sick,” he added.

Surendran also asked whether “normal people joined the police force but something in the police culture corrupted them and turned them into monsters”.

Surendran said Suhakam must present a “harder stance” on the matter and pressurise the police to overcome their lackadaisical attitude. - Malaysiakini, 15/1/2009 - 'Hot water torture': Seven cops charged