Right of host country to conduct investigation on death of foreigner

KUALA LUMPUR: In cases involving death of a foreigner, the right to conduct investigation, including post mortem, lies with the authorities in the country where the person died.
Deputy-Director of the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Dr Sufian Jusoh said this was based on the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 where the foreign country is required to observe and respect the laws of the host country.
The move, he said, was to enable the authorities in the host country to determine the cause of death, as well as to file the case and obtain evidence in case of prosecution.
"When a death occurs, and it is suspected a crime case, the police are empowered to order for a post-mortem as provided under the Criminal Procedure Code.
"If there is prosecution, the authorities have to bring in the experts, and normally for a murder case, the experts are from the Chemistry Department and a pathologist from a government hospital who will testify in court to prove the cause of death," he told Bernama here today.
Sufian said it was part of the principles on consular relations which emphasised relations between the people, economy, culture and diplomacy where the foreign country could not interfere in matters pertaining to the laws and sovereignty of the host country.
Families of the deceased who are not happy with the result of the mortem could request for another autopsy, but only after the host country has completed its investigation and post mortem, he added.
On the claim of the body, he said, it is bound by the private international law where it should be solved between families members of the deceased and authorities in the host country, even if the deceased involved a high profile individual.
"For example, if a younger brother of a leader of a country dies in another country and the leader wants to claim the body, the leader will be assisted by the embassy, but the claim will be made based on the leader as a private individual because the body is not state-owned, but it is owned by the family," he added.
He said if the body was not claimed by family members of the next-of-kin, the host country could arrange the funeral based on the religion of the deceased or give permission to the embassy to claim it. — Bernama