Hours after the criminal court acquitted two suspects charged in missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan's case, his family on Thursday vowed to file an incompetence lawsuit against the police.
The Maldives Independent reporter Rilwan went missing nearly four years ago and his disappearance remains arguably the biggest unsolved mystery in the archipelago.
Prosecutors have charged two men - Ahmed Aalif Rauf and Mohamed Nooraddeen with terrorism. Both however, had denied the charges.
Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted the two men citing insufficient evidence. The court said the police had botched the investigation which had resulted in the lack of evidence against the two suspects.
Following the acquittal, Rilwan's sister Fathimath Shehenaz told AVAS that the entire family was heartbroken while the verdict proved what the family has long suspected.
"This clearly shows that an abduction of a Maldivian citizen is not a serious issue for the police. It now proves police incompetence and a government cover-up. This family won't stop its fight for justice," she vowed.
Shehenaz said the family would sue the police for incompetence and ask prosecutors to appeal the acquittal.
Investigators believe that Rilwan had been forced into a red car owned by Aalif where the victim's DNA had been found which had been later matched to Rilwan's mother.
But in order to tie the evidence to Rilwan, prosecutors needed to prove that none of his immediate family members had been inside the car.
Police had carried out a mitochondrial DNA test of one of the five hairs found in the car.
A mitochondrial DNA test traces a person's matrilineal or mother-line ancestry using the DNA in his or her mitochondria which is passed down by the mother unchanged, to all her children, both male and female.
The nature of the DNA test meant there was no conclusive way to prove that the hair had belonged to the victim as the particular DNA strand would be present in any of her children.
Rilwan's four sisters and three brothers along with his mother had testified that they had never been inside the car. However, during their testimonies, it emerged that Rilwan had a fourth brother who was living in Malaysia.
The court had heard Moosa Rilwan's testimony who was in Maldives embassy in Malaysia in the presence of an embassy official.
When prosecutors showed a picture of the red car linked to the suspects, Moosa denied recognizing or ever getting into the car.
Rilwan's neighbours had testified that they had heard a scream on the night he went missing while they also claimed to have seen a man being forced into a car. No one however could identify the victim or the suspects.
