Malaysia (MNN) — On February 13, 2017, Pastor Raymond Koh disappeared off the streets of Malaysia. His abduction by mysterious attackers in three vehicles was caught on a security camera. The kidnapping took less than 40 seconds. But Pastor Koh’s wife, Susanna, has been locked in a years-long legal battle for answers, and it’s not over yet.
“It has been such a long ride for his family,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. “In those nine years, there was a Human Rights Commission report in Malaysia that blamed the Special Branch of the police. Then Susanna went to court, actually sued the government, and sued some of the police officers.”
Pastor Koh with his family
(Image courtesy of VOM on Facebook.)
There’s been a setback despite the court victory Susanna received last fall. In November, a judge ordered the investigation into Pastor Koh’s disappearance to be reopened and granted a financial settlement to his family. But the government appealed, and last month another judge issued a stay on the November ruling until the appeal is resolved.
“The stay affects the financial award, but it also affects — and this is the part that Susanna is most disappointed about — that order to continue the investigation and to ‘report back to the judge your progress,’” says Nettleton. “For her, this entire lawsuit has not been about money. It’s been about answers: ‘I want to know what happened to my husband.’”
Susanna is filing an appeal on the stay. She has told Nettleton that “even deciding the appeal, deciding the stay, could take three to five more years.”
Pray for endurance for the Koh family. Ask God for the truth to be revealed through the Malaysian court system.
“The fact that a judge ruled in Susanna’s favor and against the Malaysian government is very, very significant,” says Nettleton. “It will take more judges on the appeal court who have courage, who will stand up for the truth as well.”
Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Donald Tong/Pexels.
