Human rights march: 7 acquitted

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court this morning acquitted seven people, including four lawyers, for participating in an alleged illegal human rights march two years ago.

Sessions judge SM Komathy Suppiah said the prosecution had failed to prove a case against the seven of breaking the law.

With this decision, the seven were not required to enter their defence.

The four lawyers in the dock were R Sivarasa, N Surendran, Latheefa Koya (photo: right) and Amer Hamzah Arshad (photo: left).

The other accused persons were Nooraza Othman, Johny Anbu @ Abu Bakar Adnan and Eric Paulsen.

They also faced an additional charge of disobeying the police order to disperse.

The prosecution was led by DPP Raja Rozela Raja Toran and counsel M Puravalen appeared for the seven.

Arrested halfway in the march

The Dec 9, 2007 march was held in conjunction with the International Human Rights Day and saw the participation of lawyers as well as others.

The police took action to arrest the accused persons after a failed attempt by the organisers of the march to negotiate with the police to allow them to finish their march at their intended spot.

The 100-odd crowd was already halfway to their destination when the 500-strong police force gave the marchers a 10-minute warning to disperse.

The organisers, who believed that they could complete their march within the time limit, wanted to press on.

They were arrested near the Jalan Tun Perak LRT station and were immediately taken to the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.