KUALA LUMPUR, 19 Feb 2009: The trial of Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, charged with defaming the deputy prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, and two others, will begin at the Sessions Court here on 26 May.
Judge Mohamad Sekeri Mamat fixed three days for the trial at the request of deputy public prosecutor Anselm Charles Fernandis, after the High Court on 13 Feb ordered the case to be tried at the Sessions Court.
Raja Petra’s counsel, Amarjeet Singh, had not objections to the dates.
On 13 Feb, judicial commissioner Zainal Azman Ab Aziz ruled that the decision by the Magistrate’s Court to allow the prosecution’s application to transfer the case to the Sessions Court was valid and in order.
He then dismissed Raja Petra’s application for a review of the decision on the ground that it was baseless and had no merit.
Raja Petra, 59, had sought an order from the High Court to refer the matter to the Federal Court on a constitutional point or to return the case to the Magistrate’s Court for trial.
The editor of news portal Malaysia Today is charged with defaming Rosmah, Lt Col Abdul Aziz Buyong and his wife, Lt Col Norhayati Hassan, in a statutory declaration made at the Jalan Duta Court complex here at 10.25am on 18 June 2008.
Raja Petra, who was in court, faces a maximum two years’ jail or a fine, or both, if convicted. — Bernama
