Police have summoned three individuals for questioning over Bar Council’s ‘Walk for Justice’ rally last week, said its president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn.
The three are herself, CEO of the Bar Council secretariat Rajen Devaraj, and Bar Council member Roger Chan.
However, she said the group decided not to give statements to the police when they turned up at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters at 2.30pm yesterday.
Among other issues, Cheah claimed the police only issued a notice under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) after the lawyers had insisted, and the notice itself did not cite which law the police were investigating under.
Section 111 of the CPC refers to police’s powers to require people to attend questioning by issuing them a written notice.
“Upon meeting the police today (yesterday), we were verbally informed that investigations were purportedly being conducted pursuant to Section 15(3) of Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) and Regulations 6 and 7 of the [Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within Infected Local Areas) (National Recovery Plan) (Transition Phase to Endemic) Regulations 2022].
“During our meeting with the police in which we were represented by counsel, we asked the police for a copy of the First Information Report (FIR). The police asked us to make a written request and told us that the decision to provide us with the FIR is solely at their discretion.
“As we were only informed today of the purported section and regulations under which investigations are being carried out, and because we had no sight of the FIR, we decided not to give any statement to the police and informed them that we would write in to request for the FIR, before leaving IPD Dang Wangi.
“The Malaysian Bar wishes to reiterate the importance of citizens being aware of their legal rights and that everyone is entitled to have a lawyer accompany them at the police station.
“Meanwhile, the Malaysian Bar shall courageously take this further, insofar as the laws of our land allow us to do so,” said Cheah in a statement last night.
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Hundreds of lawyers had gathered at Padang Merbok on June 17 with the intention to march to Parliament and hand the government a memorandum demanding judicial independence.
However, the ‘Walk for Justice’ event was thwarted after police formed a human barricade and refused to allow the demonstrators through.
Legal action
Dang Wangi district police chief Noor Dellhan Yahaya said the probe was under Regulations 6 and 7 of the National Recovery Plan's transition to the endemic phase.
Regulation 6 prohibits marches, while Regulation 7 bans assemblies according to the gazetted regulations.
The Bar has earlier said that it would initiate legal action against the police for denying them their constitutional rights.
The march was organised in response to MACC’s investigation against Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali after a politically-linked blog claimed he had unexplained wealth.
The judge, who previously convicted former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, has lodged a police report denying the allegation.
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Elaborating further, Cheah said the organiser did not breach regulation 6 since the procession to Parliament did not take place.
"...The police still do not understand and worse still, regressed in this instance, to a pre-PAA era of authoritarianism and curtailment of fundamental freedoms and civil liberties."
"This is a form of abuse of power and public misfeasance because instead of facilitating the walk and ensuring the safety of the participants, they did the converse to frustrate the rights of citizens," added Cheah.
"The actions of the police have set a bad example for the citizenry, as it conveys the message that citizens are not free to exercise their constitutional rights even when they comply with the law and that a law enforcement agency can and will act with impunity and unlawfully, just because they are in a position of power to do so."- Mkini
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