SINGAPORE – Suspended activist lawyer Ravi Madasamy, better known as M. Ravi, has been found dead in the early hours of Dec 24.
The Straits Times understands police are investigating a case of unnatural death.
Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented Mr Ravi in court, said the pair were friends. He added that he was deeply saddened by the news of his passing.
“He has had his struggles but was always true to the cause he fought with all his heart. The cases he argued has helped shape constitutional law in Singapore.
“He has contributed to and will be missed by the legal profession,” said Mr Thuraisingam.
Mr Shashi Nathan said that Mr Ravi, 56, was a good man who had contributed to the law.
“Ravi was often divisive and went against the grain. But deep down I always sensed he had a good heart and wanted the best for his clients.
“He was fearless in his advocacy and would often push the envelope,” said Mr Nathan.
Mr Ravi told reporters in 2005 that his father, who died in 2003, was an alcoholic who was in and out of jail most of his life.
His mother worked as a construction labourer to support the family. She died in 2000, aged 59.
Mr Ravi, who was one of seven children in his family, studied law in Britain after graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993. He started practising in 1997.
Mr Ravi had been a strong opponent of Section 377A, the law criminalising sex between men, by arguing that it was discriminatory.
In 2020, he argued that it was “absurd and arbitrary” to allow the law to remain on Singapore’s statutes, given that the Government’s official policy position was non-enforcement in respect of consensual homosexual acts in private between men.
The decades-old law was later repealed in Parliament in 2022.
Mr Ravi also helped to overturn a 2018 decision that saved his client, Malaysian national Gobi Avedian, from the death penalty.
