KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here has set today to decide whether to allow Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and four others’ applications for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on all charges relating to the Bersih 3.0 rally in the city on April 28, 2012.
Judge Ahmad Bache will also decide whether to allow the prosecution’s application for a stay of the trial pending an application at the Federal Court to reverse the Appeals Court (COA) decision which had set aside a Magistrate’s Court order disallowing Dataran Merdeka
to be the venue of the rally.
Ahmad told all counsel and the prosecution team headed by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin that there were several pertinent issues
raised by both parties in their respective applications, and thus the court needed time to decide on these matters.
During yesterday’s proceeding, counsel SN Nair, representing Rembau PKR division chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin, informed the court that he had written to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for the charge against his client to be given a DNAA following the Appeal Court’s decision.
However, Wan Shaharuddin informed the court that the prosecution had filed a notice of appeal at the COA registry on Wednesday and that the matter (trial) should be stayed pending a decision of the Apex Court.
Anwar’s counsel Karpal Singh submitted that the court had the discretion under Section 173(g) of the Criminal Procedure Code to allow the DNAA application.
Magistrate Zaki Asyraf had on April 26, 2012 issued an order banning any rally at the Dataran Merdeka between April 28 and May 1, 2012.
On May 22, 2012, Anwar, 65, was charged jointly with PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, 49, and Badrul Hisham, 35, with participating in a street protest at the location on April 28 the same year, which allegedly caused chaos in the capital.
The trio also faced a second charge of conniving with Tangam Raju, Rajesh Kumar and Farhan Ibrahim by inciting them to remove steel barricades at Jalan Raja the same day.
They were the first individuals to be charged under Section 4(2)(c) of the newly-enacted Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which provides for a maximum fine of RM10,000, if convicted.
Later, the trio were slapped with a third charge of conspiring with Tangam, Rajesh, Farhan and five other supporters of the ‘Coalition for Free and Fair Elections’ (Bersih 3.0) to defy the Magistrate’s Court order dated April 26, 2012 not to hold a rally at Dataran Merdeka between April 28 and May 1, 2012. — Bernama