KUALA LUMPUR: The Hight Court here has set Jan 4 to hear a habeas corpus application from former Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) sergeant N Tharmendran to be released from RMAF detention.
The hearing was supposed to be held yesterday but was postponed to Jan 4 to give time to all the respondents, who are represented by the Defence Ministry’s assistant legal advisor Mohamad Tarmizi Ahmad, to file their affidavits-in-reply.
This is the second time the case has been postponed after it first came for hearing before Judge Datuk Su Geok Yiam on Dec 3.
Tharmendran had filed the application on Nov 26 and named Batu Cantonment Camp commandant Lt Colonel Mohd Razif Ramli; RMAF chief Gen Tan Sri Datuk Sri Rodzali Daud and the Defence Ministry as respondents.
In his affidavit, Tharmendran, 42, had claimed that his arrest by RMAF on Nov 25 was mala fide.
He was detained by RMAF provost marshalls outside the Shah Alam court complex on that day for alleged desertion.
He had earlier attended a court hearing at the Shah Alam High Court to have a charge against him to be dropped.
His counsel N Surendran told reporters yesterday that he would be a witness in the habeas corpus hearing and as such, counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad would be taking over as counsel for the plaintiff.
Meanwhile, the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court set Jan 28 for re-mention of the case involving Tharmendran, who is charged with abetment in the theft two F5 jet engines belonging to the RMAF.
Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz fixed the date after Deputy Public Prosecutor Razlina Rasdi applied for a new mention date pending disposal of Tharmendran’s application to have the charge dropped at the Shah Alam High Court.
On Jan 6, Tharmendran, 42, claimed trial to a charge of abetting airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop for theft of two F5 jet engines belonging to the RMAF from the Material Processing Shed, Matra 1, at RMAF base in Sungai Besi on April 30, 2008.
He can be jailed up to 10 years and fined if convicted. — Bernama