Father of Mongolian woman murdered in Malaysia plans film tribute

The father of a Mongolian woman murdered in a high-profile case in Malaysia wants to make a movie about her life, including her final days, a news report said.

Photo: Father of Mongolian woman murdered in Malaysia plans film tribute

Shaariibuu Setev, a psychology professor at the University of Mongolia, said the film would be "the only tribute that I can give to my beloved daughter," Malaysia's national news agency Bernama reported late Thursday.

Setev produced episodes of a Discovery Channel program on Mongolia a few years ago, and he plans to write and direct the movie on his daughter, Altantuya Shaariibuu, Bernama said.

"I promise myself to work hard in filming her life's journey," Setev told Bernama through an interpreter. "Altantuya will never return but her memory will never fade either."

Setev could not be reached for comment as he had left Malaysia to return home.

The killing of Shaariibuu has become one of Malaysia's biggest news stories this year. The case implicates Abdul Razak Baginda, a prominent political analyst, who pleaded innocent in a High Court on Thursday to a charge of abetting Shaariibuu's murder.

Abdul Razak, who runs a Kuala Lumpur-based think tank and is known to be close to Malaysia's ruling party, faces the death penalty if convicted.

Two policemen have been charged separately with murdering Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old model, teacher and translator whose body was reportedly shot and blown up with explosives.

Police DNA tests confirm that human remains found in a jungle clearing outside Kuala Lumpur earlier this month were Shaariibuu's.

Setev, 56, said it would not be easy to make the movie, which he hopes to complete in a year, reports AP.

"I must place myself in her tragic situation and feel the fear my daughter would have gone through in her final moments," Setev told Bernama. "I'm not promoting myself or to make profit but to show the world about my girl, who had been killed in a way that no one could imagine."

Mongolia's honorary consul to Malaysia has said Shaariibuu came to Malaysia last month, but offered no details. Malaysian media reported Abdul Razak had an affair with Shaariibuu two years ago, but his lawyer said there was no romantic relationship.

Prosecutors allege Abdul Razak conspired with the two policemen, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, to kill Shaariibuu sometime between the night of Oct. 19 and early Oct. 20. They have not said how Abdul Razak knew the policemen or what their motive could have been in the murder.