KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — The family of Muhammad Lailatulman Mohd Sukri have applied to cite the Malaysian Armed Forces Council and the Chief of the Navy for contempt over the failure to conduct a court-ordered inquiry into his death and that of another navy personnel last year.
In the application filed by Messrs Zalil Mohd & Partners today, the family said the two respondents have not acted on a mandamus order issued by the High Court on November 13 for an inquiry into the circumstances around the deaths of Lailatulman and Nik Muhammad Baihaqy Nik Mat.
Both men were navy personnel who died while undergoing training last September and their deaths have been classified as murder after investigators concluded that they had been tortured.
“Due to the failure of Chief of Navy and the MAF Council to convene an investigative board as well as the actions of the Commander of the Western Fleet to convene an investigation conflicting with the mandamus order, the deceased’s family filed an application to cite the Commander of the Navy and the Commander of the Western Fleet for contempt,” the lawyers said in a statement today.
The lawyers appended a copy of the mandamus order issued on November 13 in which the High Court ordered the MAF Council and the Royal Malaysian Navy to convene an investigative board to determine the acts and omissions that led to the two men’s death.
In October, the RMN disclosed that the two were found dead in a detention room while undergoing “physical training”.
The defence minister at the time, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, had pledged that there would be no cover-up to the incident.
