Pastor Koh S Wife Hopes Court Judgment Will Bring Some Closure

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 Susanna Liew says the family’s civil suit against the government and the police may be in its final stages.
Susanna Liew, pictured here with children Jonathan and Esther Koh, said even though her husband has gone missing for eight years, it felt like a lifetime.PETALING JAYA: The family of Raymond Koh hopes a chapter of the missing pastor’s life would be closed later this year, once the High Court decides on the civil suit they filed against the government
At an event to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Koh’s disappearance, his wife, Susanna Liew, revealed that their civil suit against the government and the police may be in its final stages.
A court judgment, she said, was expected “hopefully before September”.
The family filed the civil suit in 2020 after the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) concluded in 2019 that Koh’s disappearance was an enforced abduction carried out by the police’s Special Branch.
Despite the weight of the Suhakam findings, no criminal proceedings have been brought against those implicated.
“We still do not know what happened to Raymond. It has been eight years and it feels like a lifetime,” Liew said.
She expressed hope for the coming judgment, but acknowledged that the road ahead could still be long.
“If we win, the police (and) the government might appeal. We just have to give it to the Lord,” she said.
Koh was allegedly abducted on Feb 13, 2017 by a group of men, with CCTV footage revealing at least three black vehicles involved in the incident.
Suhakam, which held a public inquiry into his disappearance between 2017 and 2019, concluded that he was a victim of enforced disappearance carried out by the state, specifically by the Special Branch.
In 2020, Liew filed a lawsuit against the police, the inspector-general of police, and a number of former high-ranking police officers over her husband’s disappearance.
She is seeking damages over Koh’s disappearance, as well as for the authorities to be held liable for his unlawful abduction and for misfeasance in public office.
The hearing is set to continue on April 28 and 29. - FMT

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