The Federal Court ruled on August 27 last year that it has jurisdiction to hear review applications filed by prisoners who have been pardoned from the death penalty.
The three judges of the Court of Appeal, led by Federal Court Judge Tan Sri Hamida Singh, pointed out in a 2-1 majority ruling at the time that the court could hear the applications filed by four prisoners who were previously sentenced to death for drug trafficking - Balakrishnan, Jiwa, Thai citizen Pruksa and Zambian citizen Mylais.
When asked, lawyer Datuk Sivanathan, who represented two of the prisoners (Balakrishnan and Jiva), said the court's decision to vacate the hearing date has prevented the lawyers representing the four prisoners and the prosecution from exploring whether the Court of Appeal's ruling made in August last year also applies to the other 123 prisoners who have the same fate as the four.
He said the court has set June 3 for a pre-trial conference.
"The Federal Court ruled in August last year, ordering each of them to be imprisoned for 30 years, starting from the date of their arrest, and my client Balakrishnan to receive an additional 12 strokes of the cane, and he will be released from prison after receiving the caning.
"The court also ruled at the time that my other client Jiva had three years left in prison; Puruksha and Melais still had to serve five years in prison. ”
Sivanathan also revealed that he was informed that the prosecution will file a review application under the Federal Court Rules 1995 regarding the decision on the vacancy date of the Federal Court.
Balakrishnan was pardoned by the Kedah Pardon Board on March 29, 2022, while Jiwa and Mylais were pardoned by the Penang Pardon Board on June 13, 2022 and December 13, 2021 respectively.
Puruksar was pardoned by the Kuala Lumpur Pardon Board on September 21, 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment