Suaram denies French court rejected civil party application

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Suaram has denied claims that a French court rejected its application as a civil party to the Scorpene judicial inquiry.

“There were obstacles in getting admitted as a civil party, but we were granted it eventually,” said lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, who represents Suaram, at a press conference at the Chinese Assembly Hall.

She added that the human rights NGO was made party to the proceedings on April 11 and showed reporters a document from the tribunal de grande instance in Paris, addressed to Suaram director Kua Kia Soong.

The Malaysian Young Journalists Club president Dzulkarnain Taib was quoted by a Malay daily last week as saying Suaram’s application to be party to the case had been “rejected completely” and that Suaram’s claim otherwise to was a lie.

Suaram secretariat member Cyn­thia Gabriel said Suaram had never misled the public in its statements about the case and a proper understanding of the French judicial system was important in order to understand the development of the case.

She added that the judicial inquiry conducted by the Paris tribunal de grande instance, equivalent to the High Court, began this April and could take up to two years.