KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): The scheduled Federal Court hearing this Wednesday (Oct 21) for ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's application to intervene in former chief inspector Azilah Hadri’s bid to set aside the conviction and death sentence for the murder of Mongolia national Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006 has been deferred to another day due to the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

Azilah's lawyer Athari Bahardin told theedgemarkets.com today that the highest and final appellate court in Malaysia has postponed the hearing and no replacement date has been set due to the CMCO to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Athari claimed that following the deferment of the hearing for Najib’s application, the Federal Court’s scheduled Dec 8 hearing of Azilah’s revision application to set aside his conviction and death sentence could also be in jeopardy.

Athari said the Federal Court did not give any indication on the status of the Dec 8 hearing.

"There is no update from the apex court on the review hearing," he said.

On July 17, it was reported that Athari told theedgemarkets.com that Federal Court deputy registrar Zarifah Zainal Abidin had during case management on that day fixed the Oct 21 and Dec 8 hearing dates. The hearing for Azilah's revision application was initially fixed on April 20. The date had to be deferred due to Malaysia's movement control order (MCO).

It was reported that Azilah will oppose Najib's bid to intervene in the former's revision application.

It was also reported that the prosecution in the case has indicated it will oppose Azilah's revision application.

According to news reports, Altantuya was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade plastic explosives at a forest in Puncak Alam, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 18 and 1am on Oct 19, 2006.

It was reported that Azilah, ex-police corporal Sirul Azhar Umar and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda were initially charged for Altantuya's murder.

However, Abdul Razak was acquitted without his defence called at the High Court, while Azilah and Sirul Azhar were convicted.

Azilah and Sirul Azhar appealed to the Court of Appeal where they were unanimously acquitted. However, following the prosecution's appeal to the Federal Court, the apex court had in January 2015 upheld the High Court's decision to convict them of the murder and sentenced them to death.

Sirul Azhar had left Malaysia for Australia before the January 2015 judgment date and is presently held there.

On Dec 5, 2019, it was reported that Azilah, who is now on death row at the Kajang Prison in Selangor, had filed an application to review the conviction and death sentence under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995, with an order for a retrial.

Azilah had affirmed a statutory declaration, claiming the order to kill Altantuya came from Najib.

As a result, Najib had on Dec 17, 2019 instructed his lawyers to intervene in Azilah's bid to set aside the conviction and death sentence.

Malaysia's MCO, which was initially scheduled between March 18 and 31, 2020, requires non-essential businesses to stop operations, while the public was ordered to stay at home to curb the Covid-19 outbreak.

On March 25, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government decided to extend the MCO until April 14, because updates from the National Security Council and the Health Ministry indicated an increase in Covid-19 cases. 

On April 10, Muhyiddin said the government was extending the MCO until April 28.

On April 23, Muhyiddin said the MCO would be extended for another two weeks until May 12.

On May 4, news reports, quoting Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, indicated that regulations under phase four of the MCO were null and void with the commencement of the CMCO or phase five of the MCO.

On May 10, Muhyiddin said the CMCO would be extended to June 9.

On June 7, Muhyiddin said the CMCO, scheduled to expire on June 9, will be replaced with the recovery movement control order (RMCO) beginning June 10 until Aug 31.

On Aug 28, news reports, quoting Muhyiddin, said the RMCO has been extended until Dec 31.

The CMCO has, however, been re-enforced in certain parts of the country due to the rise in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

Last Monday (Oct 12), news reports, quoting Ismail Sabri, said the government had agreed to re-enforce the CMCO in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya from Oct 14 to Oct 27, 2020. 

"The government has (also) agreed to implement the CMCO throughout Sabah effective from 12.01am on Oct 13 until Oct 26,” Bernama reported.