Monday, January 26, 2009

21 charged with illegal assembly


By The Sun Tan Yi Liang

PETALING JAYA (Jan 23, 2009) : Authorities today charged 21 people at the Sessions Court here with one count of illegal assembly and one count of defying a police order to disperse during an anti-ISA candelight vigil last year.

The group, which included PJ Utara MP Tony Pua, Pandamaran assemblyman Ronnie Liu, Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San, MPPJ councilor Tiew Wei Keng, and Catholic priest Fr Paulino Francesco Miranda, all claimed trial to the charges.

They were allegedly to have committed at an anti-ISA candelight vigil at the MBPJ compound in Petaling Jaya between 9pm to 10.10pm on Oct 9 last year.

The participants of the vigil, which was organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), were charged under Section 27 of the Police Act.

If found guilty, they can face up to one year in jail, RM 10,000 in fines or both.

In making submissions for bail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Noordin Badaruddin asked the court to set RM5,000 as bail for each accused, and requested for their travel documents to be impounded by the court.

However, this was rejected by the defence, led by Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, who called them to be released on personal bond or for a lower bail of RM500 to be set as there was no violence or property damage caused by the accused.

"What is their offence? Their offence was taking part in an assembly, and ignoring the orders of Supt Mohd Shukor to disperse. There was no mention of violence in the offence," said Gobind

"What was done by the accused was their right under the Federal Constitution," said Gobind, who said the charging of the 21 was a black mark in the Malaysian legal system.

"These people merely exercised their constitutional rights to freely assemble, and they are now charged. What is so serious about this offence that it requires such a high bail? They have done nothing which deserves punishment by a high bail amount," said Gobind.

He told the court that the accused posed no flight risk.

"All of them made themselves present today in court, with no problem, and they are prepared to face the prosecution," said Gobind, who then cited authorities to show that there was no legal provision to detain the passports of the accused.

This view was shared by the other defence counsel, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Salim Bashir, Sreekant Pillai, Francis Pereira and Chetan Jemwany, who each cited authorities to persuade the court to allow a lower bail of RM500 for the accused.

This was countered by Noordin, who argued that the court had the jurisdiction to impound the passports of the 21 accused as a bail condition and set a bail of RM 5000, and cited case law saying that such actions were an "assurance" to guarantee the attendance of the accused for trial.

"What I wanted to say, is that the request for bail is to ensure that their presence in court is ensured. That is the most important consideration that the court must consider," said Noordin.

After hearing submissions, Sessions Court Judge Balqis Aini Mohd Ali set bail at RM1,500 with one surety and set March 10 for mention.

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