[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 05 Aug 1999
Time: 05:13:58
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Anwar's lawyers seek to impeach key witness in sodomy trial
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (AFP) - Lawyers for former Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim applied Thursday to undertake impeachment proceedings against a key witness in his sodomy trial.
Following consultations with presiding judge Arifin Jaka, defence counsel Christopher Fernando said Thursday's hearing had been postponed until Friday to let the defence make preparations to apply for the witness to be dismissed.
Fernando told reporters that the defence team had applied to obtain notes of evidence from the testimony of former driver Azizan Abu Bakar in Anwar's earlier corruption trial.
"We want to go through the evidence to see if it's accurate," he said. "What he said in the last trial and what he says now -- the judge will decide if there is serious discrepancy."
Fernando said the defence would prove that Azizan was "not creditworthy" and would seek to have his testimony in the sodomy trial thrown out.
During cross-examination Wednesday, Fernando accused Azizan of lying in his testimony earlier in the week when he said Anwar sodomised him up to 15 times before the alleged 1993 incident for which Anwar is now on trial.
Anwar, fired and arrested in September last year, is already serving a six-year sentence following his April conviction for abusing his position to cover up accusations of sexual misconduct. He faces up to 20 additional years in jail if convicted of sodomy.
He is jointly charged with his Indonesian-born adopted brother Sukma Darmawan with sodomising Azizan. Sukma faces a further charge of abetting Anwar to sodomise Azizan.