The High Court in Malaysia has ruled that evidence from the Sh. Altantuya criminal case, which found two police officers guilty of her murder, cannot be used in the civil case by her family against the government. This means the family would have to prove that the officers murdered her all over again.

Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera dismissed an application by the family of Ms Sh.Altantuya, the deceased Mongolian translator, to include evidence of her murder case in their suit.

The victim’s father S.Shaariibuu, along with his wife and Ms Altantuya’s two sons, filed a RM100 million (S$33 million) suit on June 4, 2007, claiming that Ms Altantuya’s death had caused them mental and psychological trauma.

They named the two police officers – Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar – as well as political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and the government as defendants in the suit.

In the statement of claim, the family alleged there was conspiracy in Ms Altantuya’s murder and is seeking damages, including dependency claims.

Met after the decision, the family’s counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo said the High Court disallowed their application to add the criminal conviction into the civil suit. The law has been already been amended as such in the United Kingdom and Singapore.

In a related case, the government is also seeking to be left out of the RM100 million civil suit filed by Ms Altantuya’s family. The Federal Court will on Nov 12 hear the government’s appeal against a Court of Appeal’s decision in reinstating it as a defendant in the RM100 million lawsuit.