Murder of Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa

Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa, a Mongolian national who worked as a translator, was killed on 18 October 2006 in a deserted area in Shah Alam, Malaysia. According to the investigation, she was shot before explosives were used on her remains, although it was later suggested that the explosives may have caused her death. Bone fragments recovered from forested land near the Subang Dam were identified as hers through DNA testing.

Altantuyaa was born in 1978 and spent part of her early childhood in the Soviet Union before returning to Mongolia in 1990. She married twice, had two children who were cared for by her parents, and travelled frequently for work to countries including China, Singapore and Malaysia. The case became prominent in Malaysian politics because of alleged links between the victim and individuals connected to a senior government figure. Those allegations were publicly denied and did not lead to criminal charges on that question; several people who made or repeated such claims later retracted them or became involved in separate legal disputes.

Altantuyaa's disappearance was reported on 19 October 2006 by her cousin, who also contacted the Mongolian embassy. Malaysian police arrested two members of an elite police unit, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, and charged them with the murder; Abdul Razak Baginda was charged with abetting it.

The High Court acquitted Baginda on 31 October 2008 and, on 9 April 2009, sentenced Azilah and Sirul to death after a 159-day trial. The Court of Appeal acquitted the two officers on 23 August 2013, but on 13 January 2015 the Federal Court overturned that decision, found both men guilty and reinstated the death sentence. Sirul did not appear for the ruling and was detained by Australian immigration authorities in Brisbane on 20 January 2015; Australian law prevented his extradition to face a death sentence.

Legal proceedings continued for years. On 11 July 2024 the High Court ordered the two convicted officers, Baginda and the Malaysian government to pay damages to Altantuyaa's family in a civil suit. On 10 October 2024, following Malaysia's repeal of the mandatory death penalty in April 2023, the Federal Court commuted Azilah Hadri's death sentence to 40 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. Altantuyaa's father has continued to press for further investigation into the motive for the killing.