Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said the High Court’s decision to exclude crucial evidence unfairly obtained by the police in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial has severely undermined the prosecution’s case.
“From what I’ve seen and heard I think the charge should fall. They should withdraw the proceedings because as it stands now there is nothing to link Anwar to the DNA evidence which has been produced,” he said.
Opposition Leader Anwar won a key victory in his sodomy trial today as DNA evidence that the prosecution had linked with his accuser was ruled inadmissible.
The High Court’s decision is a major boost for Anwar, a former deputy premier who was jailed on separate sex and corruption counts a decade ago, and who faces 20 years in jail if found guilty of the new charges.
The court found that a toothbrush, mineral water bottle and a hand towel taken from the lock-up where Anwar was held overnight after his arrest in July 2008 were improperly obtained.
“I find that in this case the DNA samples from the three items… were obtained by unfair means from the accused,” said High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, adding that they were to be “excluded from evidence”.
Anwar was in high spirits after the decision, which means the prosecution will now have to rely on the evidence of the accuser, his former aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who said he was sodomised at an upmarket condominium.
“I am grateful for the verdict and this just further supports what I have said, that I am being persecuted unfairly by the authorities in their bid to silence me,” Anwar told reporters.
Items taken from the lock-up
Government chemists testifying before the court have said that DNA evidence from the items taken from the lock-up without Anwar’s knowledge – which has only been identified as ‘Male Y’ – matched samples taken from 25-year-old Saiful.
At the opening of the trial in February 2011, the prosecution said those tests on the young accuser had found traces of Anwar’s semen.
The trial, which has been punctuated by long delays, has also heard evidence from one of the chemists that there were multiple unidentified DNA profiles found in Saiful’s anus and trousers.
Anwar has said he is the victim of a plot to prevent him from taking power after the opposition made huge strides in 2008 elections, stunning the ruling BN coalition, which has been in power for half a century.
The 63-year-old father of six has refused to provide DNA evidence in the latest case, saying he fears it would be misused.
Anwar has previously been turned down in bids to have the presiding judge disqualified for bias, as well as attempts to gain access to medical reports and video footage.
