( CNN ) -- The judge in the sodomy trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim handed him a key victory Tuesday when he ruled that DNA taken from items Anwar used in his police jail cell is inadmissible . Authorities had hoped to swipe DNA taken from a toothbrush , water bottle and hand towel in Anwar 's cell -- and compare it with the DNA recovered from semen left in his accuser 's body . `` None of their witnesses gave evidence that Anwar drank from the bottle of water or used the towel or toothbrush , '' said defense lawyer Sankara Nair . `` The items were taken from the police cell and anybody could have used them . So the evidence was lacking from the start . '' `` If the prosecutors ca n't link Anwar 's DNA to the boy 's body semen , which is the main crux of the case , then they do n't have a case , '' she added . `` So that 's why we feel a big chunk of the case is gone . '' Sodomy , even if consensual , is punishable by 20 years in prison in the majority-Muslim country . Anwar has pleaded not guilty to the charge . Investigators arrested Anwar in July 2008 -- four months after a loose coalition of opposition parties he led made gains on the ruling party in parliamentary elections . `` I do n't believe that I 'm going to get a fair trial , '' Anwar told CNN in February 2010 . `` A fair trial would require a competent , independent judge to immediately strike out the charge because any sexual assault must have a case to support the charge . '' Anwar has called his arrest a `` dirty trick and conspiracy '' orchestrated by authorities who are trying to discredit him . `` They think that by doing this they can frustrate the opposition because they think the coalition will be more fragile without me , '' said Anwar , who oversees a multiethnic opposition alliance and his own Justice Party . `` Clearly they have underestimated the commitment of the ( parties ) . '' The U.S. State Department has said that Anwar 's arrest `` raises serious questions and concerns . '' Anwar was the heir apparent to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad until 1998 , when he was sacked and charged for corruption and sodomy . Anwar spent six years in prison after being convicted on corruption charges in 1999 and on sodomy charges involving his wife 's former driver in 2000 . Malaysia 's highest court overturned the sodomy conviction and ordered him released from prison in 2004 . However , the corruption verdict was never lifted , barring him from running for political posts until 2008 . A loose coalition of opposition parties -- with Anwar at the helm -- won 82 of 222 parliamentary seats in elections in March of that year . It was the second time in the country 's history that the ruling party failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution . Anwar has said the investigators trying to build a case against him are the same ones who hid evidence that could have cleared him in his sodomy-related conviction in 1999 .
They had hoped to compare the DNA to that taken from the victim . The main crux of the prosecution 's case was the DNA , defense said . Sodomy could result in a 20-year sentence in prison even if consensual .