SHAH ALAM, 29 Apr: The Rembau PKR Branch Chief, Badrul Hisham Shaharin, or better known as ‘Chegu Bard’, and two others were acquitted from the charge of organising the New Year’s Eve assembly to protest the rising prices of goods and the goods and services tax (GST).
The Sessions Court judge, Azman Mustapha, decided this after allowing the appeal by counsel, Melissa Sasidaran, following the decision of the Court of Appeal that Section 9 (5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 was unconstitutional on April 25.
Quoting from the Sinar Harian report, apart from Chegu Bard, 36, the two other activists are; the Chairman of Student Solidarity Malaysia (SMM), Mohamad Bukhairy Mohamed Sofian, 24, and the Propaganda Director of Malaysian Youth Solidarity (SAMM), Edy Nor Reduan, 33.
They were charged of committing the offence at Dataran Merdeka, Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur, between the hours of 9pm, on 31 December 2013, to 1am, 1 January, 2014.
According to the charges, they had failed to inform the Dang Wangi Police Chief 10 days before the date of the assembly and was in violation of Section 9 (1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, and can be punished according Section 9 (5) of the same Act, which carries a maximum fine of RM10,000.
On April 25, the Court of Appeal dropped charges against the Assemblyman for Seri Setia, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, for organising the Black 505 assembly.
In its ruling, the court ruled that the police can enforce a ban on such gatherings, but cannot punish the organisers by charging them when they fail to give a 10-day notice prior to the assembly.
