KUALA LUMPUR, 13 April 2009: The High Court here today fixed 13 Oct for further case management in a RM2 million civil suit brought against blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin by two senior military officers over his statutory declaration implicating them in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Deputy Registrar Hilmiah Yusof fixed the date in chambers.
In the suit filed on 22 July 2008, Lt Col Abdul Aziz Buyong and his wife, Lt Col Norhayati Hassan, alleged that Raja Petra made the declaration containing accusations against them and the prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, regarding the murder with malice and in bad faith to tarnish their reputation, credibility, good name and career.
They said the accusations were made negligently and without regard for the need to ascertain whether they were true or false, hence damaging their good name and reputation.
Raja Petra, who runs the Malaysia-Today blog, made the statutory declaration on 18 June 2008 and posted it on his blog and other websites during the trial of the Altantuya murder in the Shah Alam High Court.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda was acquitted and discharged by the court on 31 Oct 2008 of abetting two Special Action Unit policemen to commit the murder.
The two, Chief Insp Azilah Hadri and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, were found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death on 9 April 2009. They are appealing the decision.
Raja Petra, 59, is also facing a criminal defamation charge at the Sessions Court on the same matter, which is pending trial. He is charged with defaming Rosmah, Abdul Aziz and Norhayati in his 18 June statutory declaration made at the Jalan Duta Court Complex here. — Bernama
