Chegubard and two others to face the same fate as Nik Nazmi

Three Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) activists are set to be charged again in court today under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012 for their involvement at the Turun Rally on New Year’s Eve last year.

The charges against Badrul Hisham Shahrin or Chegubard, Edy Nor Reduan and Mohamed Bukhairy Mohamed Sofian had previously been dropped by the Court of Appeal as it had been declared unconstitutional.

Last month the three were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the Sessions Court of the charge related to the organising of the Turun gathering in protest of a rise in prices of goods and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The incident allegedly took place at Dataran Mereka, Jalan Raja here between 9pm on December 31 2013 and 1am on January 2, 2014.

According to the charge, they had failed to notify the Dang Wangi Police Chief 10 days before the assembly, an offence under Section 9(1) of the PAA and can be fined under Section 9(5) of the same act which provides for a fine of not more than RM10,000 upon conviction.

The charges on the three activists is similar to Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s case who had been brought to court for the same offence after being acquitted by the Court of Appeal.

On April 25, the Court of Appeal had dropped the charges against Nik Nazmi for failing to give the required 10-day notification to the authorities when he organised the Blackout 505 rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium, Selangor on May 5 last year.

A three-man bench led by Judge Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had ruled unanimously that Section 9(5) 0f the PAA 2012 was unconstitutional as its provision went beyond Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly.

The Sessions Court then freed Nik Nazmi after he was charged again with the same offence on May 6, 2014.

Judge Yasmin Abdul Razak allowed Nik Nazmi an order of “discharge not amounting to acquittal”, saying that she was bound by the decision made by the higher courts.