KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― The High Court has ordered the Malaysian government to pay a sum of over RM37 million to the family of missing Christian pastor Raymond Koh, holding the state responsible for his abduction.
High Court Judge Su Tiang Joo ruled that one or more police personnel ― former and currently employed ― were involved in the abduction and had acted “oppressively and arbitrarily”, misusing their public power to abduct Koh eight years ago.
Koh’s wife, Susanna Liew, filed the lawsuit in 2020, just before the three-year limitation period to sue expired after failing to obtain a satisfactory resolution to Koh’s abduction from the police force.
She is seeking to hold the authorities accountable for Koh’s unlawful abduction on February 13, 2017, and for misconduct in public office. She is also pursuing damages related to his disappearance.
Koh was abducted on the morning of February 13, 2017 along Jalan SS4B/10 in Kelana Jaya, Selangor while driving in his car from his house to his workplace. His car had been surrounded by seven vehicles and about 15 masked individuals, and he has been missing since then.
On April 3, 2019, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) concluded its public inquiry and made the findings that the government’s agents, namely the police’s Special Branch, had carried out the enforced disappearance of Koh.
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