Balamurugan, 44, died in police custody on Feb 8 in the North Klang police station.
In a statement today, lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya said results of the second postmortem carried out by Hospital Kuala Lumpur pathologists showed the victim suffered multiple injuries to the chest, head, legs and back, which triggered heart failure.
The Klang MP released his own statement later, saying the pathologist’s report was enough for the police to detain the police officers who interrogated Balamurugan and to charge them in an open court.
“The court hearing must be independent and have a legitimacy, in that it must be able to instil confidence in the public that there is no manipulation by people with vested interests,” he said.
He added that the conclusion by the hospital’s pathologists “clearly” demonstrates the “above-the-law” entitlement felt by the police.
“The postmortem report states Balamurugan Suppiah’s death was caused by coronary artery disease with multiple blunt force injuries and just like the hundreds of thousands of people out there, I too connected the dots.
“It doesn’t take anyone two seconds to conclude that the senseless beating by the police must have contributed largely to Balamurugan’s death.”
He added: “I attended Balamurugan’s funeral on Sunday. It was heartbreaking to see his wife and daughter and this in itself reinforces the need for criminal accountability as we cannot continue to grant immunity to police officers who can’t seem to stop themselves from indulging in acts of torture.”
Santiago pointed out that a report by Suaram last year revealed that 721 prisoners were reported to have died in custody from 2013 to April 30, 2016, averaging 18 deaths per month.
“Despite this, the police continue to exert excessive force during investigations in custody and they do so with impunity, often going scot-free from legal consequences,” he said.
He recalled the “brutal” details of Balamurugan’s case as well as the lack of cooperation from the police officers.
“There were deep injuries on Balamurugan’s body and he was vomiting blood in the court, compelling the magistrate to deny remand and instead order him to be taken to the hospital right away.
“The police did not comply with the ruling and instead took him back to the police station. He died there. It doesn’t take much to visually imagine the gruesome physical abuse unleashed against Balamurugan by the police.”
New findings show it’s time for arrests, say Balamurugan lawyers