Lawyer-activist Rajesh Nagarajan told FMT that this was confirmed in a letter from Shah Alam criminal investigation department (CID) director Shukri Ayob.

The letter stated that the investigation papers were referred to the deputy public prosecutor’s (DPP) office on March 30 before the DPP instructed that the case be classified as NFA.

Rajesh said his clients had instructed him to write to the AGC to find out why there would be no further action, claiming that the decision was “illogical”.

“We had provided the police with all the evidence, including the alleged perpetrator’s identity and address, as well as dozens of photos and videos (of the torture), so the NFA makes no sense,” he said.

Rajesh added that the police would only have needed to conduct “minimal” investigations due to the amount of evidence it was given.

In January, animal rights group Hak Asasi Hidupan Liar Malaysia (Hidup) filed a police report over the alleged torture of baby long-tailed macaques, after a tip-off from Lady Freethinker from the US and Action for Primates from the UK.

The alleged perpetrator had recorded the torture of the primates and sold the footage on a Telegram group named “Monkey Haters”. The perpetrator charged a fee if anyone in the Telegram group wanted to watch the full videos.

Rajesh said the footage of the torture included mutilating, dismembering, hitting the monkeys with blunt objects, burning, boiling and skinning them alive.