KUALA Lumpur Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi today recorded statements in camera from two of five suspects charged with supporting the now-defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after they complained of mistreatment, torture or intimidation while in detention.

Malaysiakini reported that Azura recorded the complaints of grocery shop owner B. Subramaniam, 57, and scrap-metal dealer A. Kalaimughilan, 28, after Subramaniam’s lawyer, S. Selvam, applied for the court to hear the torture claims.

Selvam told the news portal that his client “faced all sort of threats”, including a warning that he would be sent to prison for life if he did not confess to being an LTTE member.

Subramaniam’s son, S. Ravindran, and daughter-in-law, R. Thiviya, said police threatened the accused to confess to his involvement in LTTE, or else, they would not release his wife and five sons.

“They are manipulating him (into thinking) that the entire family is (being charged as) a terrorist family,” Thiviya was quoted as saying.

M.V. Yoges, acting for Kalaimughilan, described the cell in which her client is being held as “dark” and not in compliance with lock-up regulations.

She said detainees, who are being kept in separate cells to prevent them from communicating with one another, are not provided with beds or pillows, adding that the toilets are clogged, and there are mosquitoes, rats and cockroaches in the cells.

Yoges, who is also representing three other accused – teacher R. Sundram, 52; security guard M. Pumugan, 26; and, storekeeper S. Thanagaraj, 26 – in another court, applied for the trio’s statements to be taken, but judge Azman Amad ruled that the lawyers should raise the matter on December 23, which has been set for next mention.

A total of 12 men, including two DAP assemblymen, are being detained under the controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012. They were charged on October 29 and 31 with multiple offences related to LTTE, which once waged a bloody civil war to carve out a homeland for Tamils in the largely Buddhist Sinhalese Sri Lanka.

Also today, another sessions court allowed an application by Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan and three others to refer to the high court on the issue of bail.

Judge Rozina Ayob told a packed courtroom that there is merit to the application. – November 1, 2019.