Illegal assembly: Two charges, one against MP, thrown out

Source TheStar

KUALA LUMPUR: Two separate charges of illegal assembly, one involving an Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), were thrown out of court on Monday as they were deemed groundless.

Lawyer Johnson Kok Wei Chong and Kuala Krai MP Dr Hatta Ramli (PAS) were charged at the Sessions Court with participating in an illegal assembly with the purpose of being a public nuisance at KLCC on Jan 26 this year between 2.45pm and 4.25pm under Section 143 of the Penal Code.

Later Monday, another four - Tan Chee Hoi, PKR’s Ginie Lim, Mohd Azhar Yaacob and Mohamed Nawi - were charged under a separate case file for participating in a similar illegal assembly at the same time and date, but at a different location in Jalan Ampang.

Kok’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo argued that the charge was not valid as it went against Section 141 which required at least five people to be present for an unlawful assembly to take place.

“In my client’s case, only he and Dr Hatta are being charged. The charge only lists two names and this is clearly less than five people. The charge should be struck out. Why are we wasting time here? This is a joke,” he said.

Dr Hatta’s lawyer Hanipa Maidin also gave the same argument which was used later when the other four were charged.

Hanipa also said the use of the term “public nuisance” was extraneous as it was not part of the unlawful assembly definition under Section 141.

After a one-hour stand down, Sessions Court judge Mohamad Sekeri Mamat decided to strike out the charge and gave all six a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

He also reduced the bail to RM500 with one surety for all six compared with the RM1,000 sought by the prosecution. Both lawyers tried to get personal bonds for Dr Hatta and Kok.

All six still faced a second charge of joining Coalition Against Inflation (Protes) supporters in a protest in Jalan Ampang despite an order by Magistrate Aizatul Akmal Maharani prohibiting the protest.

All six pleaded not guilty. When the charge was being read out, Dr Hatta was calm but PKR’s Kok spoke out and claimed the accusation was politically motivated.

Earlier in the day, Batu MP and PKR information chief Tian Chua claimed trial to both charges, which is participating in an illegal assembly and for disobeying Magistrate Aizatul Akmal’s order.

Tian Chua, who was the only one charged in the morning, posted the RM1,000 bail with surety. His lawyer did not contest the charge.

The courtroom was packed as a total of 35 people were supposed to be present for the hearing mention of their illegal assembly case including PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu and Parti Sosialis Malaysia chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim.

However, six of the accused did not show up, of which two were issued warrants of arrest for not having an excuse.

The court then became a bit noisy after it was heard that a show-cause notice would be issued to the bailor of the two accused, who happened to be Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, now the Selangor Mentri Besar.

Khalid, who was not the Mentri Besar at the time of the incident, was believed to have become a bailor for several of the accused.

DPP Fariza Hamzah later said it did not matter that Khalid was now the Mentri Besar as he was the bailor then and the two did not turn up.

Judge Mohamad Sekeri set March 23-25 next year as the joint trial date.