Stop possible ‘Good Friday’ execution of Gunasegar Pitchaymuthu
24 Mar 2016, 7:00 pm Updated 0 comments
Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) is shocked to
hear that Malaysia may be executing 34-year-old Gunasegar Pitchaymuthu,
possibly on Good Friday (March 25, 2016).
In a letter from the
from the Taiping Prison’s Department, received by the family on
Wednesday, it was stated that that they should visit him for the last
time as he would be executed “soon”.
The family was also advised to discuss arrangements to claim Gunasegar’s body for his funeral. (The Star, March 24, 2016).
The
letter provided no date or time for execution, but it was reported that
executions in Malaysia usually happen on Friday morning.
Malaysia
is in the process of considering the abolition of the death penalty,
starting possibly with the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.
Nancy
Shukri, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and also the de
facto Law Minister, was reported stating that the proposal to amend laws
to abolish the mandatory death sentence may be tabled in Parliament as
early as March this year. (Malay Mail, Nov 17, 2015).
Attorney-general Apandi Ali also did commit to propose to the Cabinet that the mandatory death penalty be scrapped (The Malaysian Insider, Nov 13, 2015).
Apandi,
who is also the public prosecutor, said that ‘…mandatory death
sentences were a ‘paradox’, as it robbed judges of their discretion to
impose sentences on convicted criminals….’
“If I had my way, I
would introduce the option for the judge in cases where it involves
capital punishment. Give the option to the judge either to hang him or
send him to prison.
“Then we’re working towards a good administration of criminal justice,” Apandi had said.
Victim of mandatory death penalty
As
such, Malaysia should not be executing anyone at this time, especially
persons who are victims of the mandatory death penalty.
Gunasegar
was convicted of murder, and that carries the mandatory death penalty.
He was on death row for his role in the murder of B Venukumar on April
4, 2005, which means that he was merely 23 years old when the alleged
crime was committed.
It must be noted that ‘…In court documents sighted by The Star,
Gunasegar was charged, together with J Ramesh and J Sasivarnam, with
murdering Venukumar at a playground in Taman Ria Raya, Sungai Petani,
Kedah.
Though the trio claimed during the trial that they had been
attacked by a group, which included Venukumar and only defended
themselves, the High Court found them guilty in 2011...’ (The Star, March 24, 2016).
It
must be noted that even if one is represented by a lawyer, lawyer
errors at the court of first instance can lead to injustice being done,
and the possibility that an innocent man be sent to his death. If
evidence was not challenged, or not adduced at the court of first
instance, it is extremely difficult to introduce relevant evidence later
at the appellate stage.
We recall also the case where an innocent
man was wrongly executed, whereby in January 2011, Taiwan’s Ministry of
Justice admitted that Chiang Kuo-ching, a private in the Air Force, had
been executed in error in 1997 for a murder committed 15 years
previously.
We recall the words of former Court of Appeal Judge KC
Vohrah who said, “The law is the law but I wish Parliament would
abolish the death sentence because if a mistake is made, it would be
irreversible. There are other ways of dealing with heinous crimes.”
Royal intervention
Madpet
urges the Sultan of Kedah and/or Sultan of Perak, to intervene and stop
this hanging, as was done by Sultan of Johor in 2014 who saved Chandran
s/o Paskaran from being hanged. The crime was committed in Kedah,
whilst Gunasegar is being imprisoned in Perak, and in all likelihood,
execution will be carried out also in Perak.
Madpet also urges
Nancy Shukri, the de facto law minister, and the attorney-general, to
act and obtain a stay of execution as they did before, in the case of
Osariakhi Ernest Obayangbon (aka Philip Michael) in 2014.
On Dec 18, 2014, the UN general assembly reaffirmed for the fifth time since 2007 the urging for a stop to all executions.
In
2014, 117 nation-states voted in favour, 38 against, 34 abstained, with
four absentees. Every time the said resolution had been adopted, the
number of votes in favour has been increasing. The global trend
continues to be for abolition.
The urging for the abolition of the
death penalty in Malaysia has been made by many individuals, bodies and
civil society organisations, including Malaysian Human Rights
Commission (Suhakam), Malaysian Bar, and Madpet.
Madpet prays the planned execution of Gunasegar Pitchaymuthu be stopped and that his sentence be commuted.
Madpet
also urges a moratorium on all executions pending abolition, and also
for the commutation of sentence of all persons on death row, whereby in
October 2015, the number on death row as disclosed was about 1,022.
Madpet also urges Malaysia to abolish the death penalty.
CHARLES HECTOR is coordinator for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet).
Source: Malaysiakini, 24/3/2016
No comments:
Post a Comment