Saifuddin said the incident involved officers carrying out their official duties.
“It requires clear evidence that the firearm was discharged with malicious intent or (that the officers) exceeded the limits of self-defence, as provided for under Sections 96 to 106 of the Penal Code,” he said in response to parliamentary questions by RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) and Teresa Kok (PH-Seputeh).
Rayer had questioned why the policemen had yet to be arrested or investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, while Kok asked why the case was not investigated as murder from the outset and the current status of the investigation.
Saifuddin said the police were still completing the investigation papers, which were referred twice to the Attorney-General’s Chambers – on Dec 16 and 29.
He also explained that the case was classified under Section 302 to allow the investigation to cover all possible angles.
“However, the decision to charge or free (the parties involved) depends on the AGC’s orders after going through all the technical reports,” he said.
On Jan 28, lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan, who represents the families of the three men, reiterated their call for the officers involved to be arrested.
Rajesh said the AGC’s reclassification of the case as murder under the Penal Code necessitated the full use of criminal procedures applicable to homicide.
A special investigation team under the federal police’s criminal investigation department is investigating the case after it was reclassified as murder.
Melaka police initially investigated the incident for attempted murder.
The three men were shot dead by Melaka police, who claimed they were serial robbers who had attacked an officer with a parang, and that the police had acted in self-defence.
However, the police’s version was challenged by the victims’ families, lawyers and civil rights advocates after an audio recording purportedly made during the incident surfaced.
The family claimed there was evidence to show the men were executed and not killed in a shoot-out.