The family of Malaysian Pastor Raymond Koh has won a civil suit against the government nearly eight years after his abduction in broad daylight. A High Court judge ruled that police officers were responsible for the 2017 disappearance and ordered them to pay significant damages.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this week found that one or more police officials had acted “oppressively and arbitrarily” under orders when they forcibly abducted Koh.
The court ordered the Malaysian government to pay the pastor’s family RM10,000 ($2,350) for each day since his disappearance, totaling more than RM31 million ($7.4 million), Voice of the Martyrs, a U.S.-based nonprofit, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.
In addition, the court awarded RM4.3 million (around $1 million) to Koh’s widow, Susanna Liew, in damages and legal costs. The funds are to be placed in a trust and cannot be accessed by Liew or the couple’s three children unless and until Koh is located, according to the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Koh was abducted on Feb. 13, 2017, on a street in Petaling Jaya. A CCTV camera captured the incident, which showed a convoy of seven vehicles and at least 15 men carrying out the operation in 40 seconds. His car was never recovered and no confirmed sightings have emerged since that day.
The court also ordered police to reopen the investigation into Koh’s disappearance and to report progress to the Attorney General every two months. The decision marks the first time the judiciary has held the government accountable in the case.
Outside the courtroom, Liew said the ruling came “after nearly nine years of the loss of a husband and father, anguish and uncertainty.” She added that while the verdict would not bring her husband back, it offered “somewhat a vindication and closure” for their family.
She also criticized the authorities for not acting on previous inquiries that had found evidence of police involvement. No disciplinary or legal action has been taken against specific officers named in earlier investigations.
A 2019 report by Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission had found that Koh was likely a victim of enforced disappearance, concluding that the abduction was carried out by state agents. That finding had remained dormant, with no prosecutions following it.
The Koh family’s legal case cited that in the immediate aftermath of the abduction, police questioned Liew not about her husband’s disappearance but about his religious work and outreach among ethnic Malay Muslims. Koh had operated a Christian charity and had previously been investigated for alleged proselytization, although no charges were ever filed.
CSW has urged Malaysia to establish a royal commission of inquiry to determine what happened to Koh.
In a statement following the verdict, Liew dedicated the ruling to her husband, calling him “a man of faith, compassion and courage,” also to all victims of enforced disappearances. She expressed hope that the case would serve as a precedent for holding state actors accountable.
