Court sticks to ruling against public assembly law, frees activists

The Malaysian Insider
by V. ANBALAGAN

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today discharged three activists who organised a peaceful gathering on New Year's Eve, saying the charge framed against them under the Peaceful Assembly Act was unconstitutional.

Sessions judge Ahmad Bache said he was bound by the April 25 Court of Appeal ruling that a punishment provision under the PPA was unconstitutional.

"As such the charge is groundless and I discharge the accused persons but not amounting to an acquittal," he said.

On May 9, the prosecution registered the charge against Mohd Bukhairy Sofian,  Edy Noor Ridzuan and Badrul Hisham Shaharin or Chegubard, under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, for failing to to give police a 10-day notice before the rally.

‎However, defence counsels Gobind Singh Deo and Eric Paulsen this morning objected to the charge read to the three, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Gobind said the court could not take a plea for an offence that has been declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal on April 25.

The three were organisers of the rally at Dataran Merdeka on December 31 last year, organised by a group called Turun, to protest against the rising cost of living.

They were first charged on January 29 but were granted a discharge on April 28 by the Sessions Court.

Gobind said the Attorney-General, who is also the public prosecutor, could not use his discretion to charge the three as it was tantamount to abuse of power and showed disrespect to the court.

Paulsen, who appeared with Gobind, said the charge was groundless and urged the court to discharge their clients.

In today's proceedings, Ahmad said the court had to first answer whether it had the jurisdiction to hear and try the case, which he described a mere summons case in which the three men were only asked to appear in court.

"This means they have come to court voluntarily and not brought from police custody," he said, adding that a provision in the Subordinates Courts Act 1948 gives him the jurisdiction to hear and try a summons case.

He then ordered the charge to be read and a plea to be taken, but the trio pleaded not guilty.

Ahmad then addressed the court whether the charge was groundless based on the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal.

"The court has declared that there can be no punishment for organising a peaceful assembly and the provision is struck down from the day the law was enacted," he said.

Ahmad said the only recourse was to give the accused persons a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim then told Ahmad that the Federal Court would hear on May 27 Putrajaya's appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling.

Gobind reminded that the A-G, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, should take note of the Session Court ruling and not act unconstitutionally.

"Gani must respect the court and stop charging persons for offences that had been declared unconstitutional. He should stop misconducting himself," he added. – May 14, 2014.