The High Court today agreed to hear all six criminal charges against scrap metal trader A Kalaimughilan, in the latter’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) case, be heard together.
Defence lawyer T Rajasekaran said Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Aslam Zainuddin set Feb 11 to hear all the cases against the accused.
Kalaimughilan (photo) was last year charged with possessing and distributing materials related to the former Sri Lankan terrorist organisation and for supporting the latter.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at various occasions between 2014 and 2019.
“The prosecution applied to the court to combine all of my client’s cases to be heard together. We agreed,” Rajasekaran told Malaysiakini.
He added that the defence would be appealing for bail for Kalaimughilan.
On October 29, last year, Kalaimughilan, then 28, was charged at the Selayang Sessions Court with two counts of possession items linked to the defunct terrorist organisation on October 10, 2019.
He was also charged with supporting LTTE between Oct 7 and 11, 2019, as well as three other charges for allegedly distributing items, giving support at a ceremony and giving support on YouTube in March and June, 2014.
The charges were levelled against the accused according to section 130 JB(1) of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to seven years or fine and the forfeiture of the items concerned, or section 130J (1)(a), which provides for a life sentence or maximum 30 years’ jail or fine and the forfeiture of any property used or intended to be used for committing the offence.
Meanwhile, Rajasekaran (above) claimed the charges against his client were incomplete.
“I was surprised to find that the charge sheets were incomplete. In one, it was stated that Kalaimughilan has two items. However, it did not state what those items were,” Rajasekaran, who is also MIC legal aid chief, said.
Aside Kalaimughilan, MIC is also providing legal service to other accused in the LTTE case, S Theeran, M Pumugen and S Thanagaraj.
In all, 12 men, including DAP assemblypersons Seremban Jaya and Gadek assemblypersons P Gunasekaren and G Saminathan, were arrested under the controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) for alleged links to the LTTE.
The Act allows for detention without trial and forbids the courts from considering bail applications from those charged with security offences.
They were later charged with numerous offences in the case.
However, Kuala Lumpur High Court had in November, granted Saminathan the right for his bid for bail to be heard by the lower court in relation to his detention under Sosma.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali had ruled that Section 13 of Sosma violated the doctrine of separation of powers between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive and, therefore, deemed “unconstitutional”.
Last December, the Attorney-General’s Chambers stated that it will not appeal against the court decision.
Yesterday, some 500 people gathered at Kuala Lumpur to protest the 12 men’s detention under the Sosma.
- Mkini
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