THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has scheduled October 6 to hear a judicial review application by the family of murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu seeking to compel police to investigate allegations contained in a supplementary affidavit and statutory declaration by former police officer Azilah Hadri.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur, who represents Altantuya's father, Dr Shaariibuu Setev, said the hearing has been fixed before High Court Judge Norliza Othman.
The Inspector-General of Police, the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysia Police, the Attorney General and the Government of Malaysia are named as respondents and will be represented by Senior Federal Counsel Muhammad Muhairi Mohamed Noh.
On October 16, 2025, the High Court granted Shaariibuu leave to commence judicial review proceedings to compel police to investigate Azilah's supplementary affidavit and statutory declaration, both of which were filed in support of his application for a review of his death sentence.
The family's judicial review application, filed on August 25, 2025, seeks a declaration that the respondents acted unlawfully by failing to disclose the status of the police investigation initiated in 2019 into the contents of Azilah's statutory declaration and supplementary affidavit.
The supplementary affidavit, dated September 24, 2024, and the statutory declaration dated October 17, 2019, were submitted by Azilah in support of his application to review his death sentence before the Federal Court on October 10, 2024.
Among the key assertions in both documents is Azilah's claim that he received instructions from "higher-ups" to carry out a "covert operation" to "kill and eliminate" Altantuya.
Shaariibuu is seeking a mandamus order directing police to complete the investigation within one month if it remains ongoing.
He is also asking the court to order the respondents to disclose, within seven days of the court's decision, the current status of the investigation conducted by Bukit Aman's Criminal Investigation Department into the contents of the two documents.
Should the authorities have decided to classify the investigation as requiring "No Further Action", Shaariibuu is seeking an order compelling them to provide reasons for that decision.
Altantuya was murdered in 2006, with her body later destroyed using explosives near Puncak Alam, Selangor. She was reported to have served as an interpreter during negotiations involving the sale of submarines by a French defence contractor to the Malaysian government.
In 2009, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced former Special Action Unit (UTK) officers Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar to death after finding them guilty of murdering Altantuya between the night of October 19 and the early hours of October 20, 2006, in Bukit Raja, Shah Alam.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted of abetting the murder.
Although the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions and acquitted Azilah and Sirul on August 23, 2013, the Federal Court reinstated their convictions and death sentences on January 13, 2015.
Sirul remains in Australia after leaving Malaysia following his acquittal and did not return for the prosecution's final appeal before the Federal Court.
On October 10, 2024, the Federal Court commuted Azilah's death sentence to 40 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. - June 23, 2026
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