Speaking to FMT, Smit’s family spokesman Fred Agenjo said a coroner’s court would look into the police investigation and other aspects of the case.
“The Dutch foreign affairs ministry just notified us that Ivana’s case will be brought to the coroner’s court.
“We are told the court will meet for eight sessions between Aug 8 and Aug 24,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Agenjo said while there was no further information forthcoming from Malaysia, they hoped the inquest would be held in an open court and conducted in English for the benefit of the family.
He also hoped family members and lawyers would be allowed to hold a watching brief on behalf of the family.
FMT has contacted the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the police for further information on the matter.
An inquest is usually held when there are reasons to suspect that a person died in a sudden or unnatural manner. The coroner is usually a presiding magistrate.
It is not a trial where a person is guilty of an offence or civilly liable, merely a fact-finding mission.
Smit, 18, was found sprawled nude on the sixth floor of an apartment block in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7.
Police believe she was intoxicated at the time. Smit was earlier said to have been in the apartment of a couple – an American man and his Kazakh wife.
It was reported that she had been out drinking with the couple in Bangsar before her death and had returned to the couple’s apartment on the 20th floor.
Smit moved to Malaysia when she was three and lived for 13 years in Penang with her grandparents.
A private investigator hired by Smit’s family was quoted in the media as saying he was convinced she was murdered. He also accused Malaysian police of a cover-up.
Police previously classified the case as “sudden death by falling”, but her family has refused to accept this conclusion.
Kuala Lumpur police had assured the family that they were investigating the matter professionally.
They also said the case was reopened by the Dang Wangi police following claims of foul play by the family.
More recently, the Smit family wrote to the prime minister urging for the exact findings of the police to be conveyed to the Dutch authorities and the family.
Ivana Smit’s death: Lawyer wants Dutch prosecutor to probe case