PETALING JAYA, Oct 12 — The Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy today announced a fund to help families pursuing lawsuits against the government over custodial deaths.

Speaking in a press conference, the group vice president Ng Geok Chee said that the purpose was to help families who do not have the means to bear the legal costs of such action.

"We announce a financial scheme to help reduce the burden of families of custodial death victims. It allows a family to request for funds as much as RM6,000, or 50 per cent from costs during inquest," Ng said, adding that the scheme bears costs for food, travel and accommodation.

Upon application, family members will have to wait 14 days as the group will examine the details of the case before approval. If the application is made up to a week before inquest hearings start, the families will receive sponsorship in advance.

"The important thing is to verify the family background for authenticity before we approve their applications," Ng said.

The group said it will raise funds through events and campaigns if there are insufficient resources to help the family members.

Ng added that the group received funds from their previous fundraising events last year to be able to carry out the scheme.

Lawyers for Liberty director Eric Paulsen said deaths in custody are a systemic problem that implicates not just the police, but also the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), the judiciary and medical authorities.

“For far too long, magistrates have been allowed to conduct sub-standard inquests where deaths in custody have not been inquired properly. Inquests mostly fail because investigation is left in the hands of the police — a blue wall of silence builds up — and no proper investigation is done, thus evidence is lost,” Paulsen told Malay Mail Online earlier in May.

“AGC officers who assist in inquest also sometimes fail to understand their role in an inquest — more often than not defending the police personnel rather than truly assisting the coroner and acting in the public interest,” the human rights lawyer added.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said on April that police statistics from 2000 to February 2014 showed that 242 detainees died in police custody, with police data showing that most of the deaths were caused by illnesses or cardiac arrests.

Teoh Beng Hock was a political aide with the DAP who died in 2009 while in the custody of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.