Raud Found Guilty, Avoids Further Imprisonment

Raud Ahmed Zilal, the main suspect in a widely followed case involving a woman who fell from the ninth floor of a building in Malé, has been sentenced to 27 days in prison but will not serve any further time, as he had already spent longer in police custody during the investigation. 

Raud was convicted of failing to provide assistance to a person in need without a valid reason and admitted the offence in court. He had previously spent 32 days in police custody, exceeding the length of the sentence handed down.

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Raud was arrested twice in connection with the case and released on both occasions. Although he tested positive for drugs when one arrest was made, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that he was not charged with drug use due to police misconduct during the arrest process.

The incident, and the pace and manner of the investigation, triggered widespread public anger. Reports that individuals who attended a party on the night of the incident had links to senior government officials heightened suspicion and fuelled large youth-led demonstrations near the police criminal investigations headquarters in Malé. Protesters rejected the official characterisation of the fall as accidental, alleging possible interference or a cover-up, and demanded full transparency and accountability from the authorities. Pressure from the protests culminated in the resignation of Police Commissioner Ali Shujau.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu later established a special commission to investigate whether police were negligent in relation to the incident itself and their response to the protests that followed.