KUALA LUMPUR: The Prisons Department has filed all 1,020 review applications for inmates facing the death sentences and life-term imprisonment to the Chief Registrar's Office of the Federal Court.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Legal and Institutional Reform), Ramkarpal Singh said the coordination of the filing for the review process was carried out by the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister's Department (BHEUU) to ensure it proceeded smoothly.
This followed the abolishment of the mandatory death penalty, which took effect on July 4, and the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) enforced from Sept 12.
"For the purpose of transparency, the flow chart of this review process has also been uploaded on the website and all social media of BHEUU on Sepr 12, which is also available for the public," he said in a statement today.
He added that for the case management later in the Federal Court, the appointed lawyers for the review process would also be provided with the basic documents of the trial such as the charge sheet, court order and grounds of judgment from previous trials and appeals of the respective inmates.
He said after the application under Act 847 is filed, appointed lawyers could request for an extension by the court should they need more time to file any additional supporting documents or to prepare their cases based on the discretion of the court.
He said any filing of additional supporting documents will not be limited to the 90-day time period that has been set under Act 847.
The extension of time is subject to the discretion of the court, as is the usual practice in any case before the court.
"As of Nov 16, 2023, a total of 23 review applications under Act 847 have already been heard and sentenced by the Federal Court, namely 15 applications for the review of the death penalty and eight applications for the review of life imprisonment," he said.