KUALA LUMPUR, 26 Oct 2009: The Sessions Court today fixed 4 Nov to decide if the prosecution should give documents asked by P Uthayakumar to prepare his defence in the sedition charge against him.
Judge Sabariah Othman set the date after hearing submissions by deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badarudin and defence lawyer N Surendran for Uthyakumar.
Earlier, Noorin submitted that the documents requested by the defence, such as the White Paper or report prepared by the police on the Kampung Medan incident in 2000, and the report on why the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry and the Royal Commission did not take place, were irrelevant.
Noorin said the documents requested by the defence could not be given as they were not with the prosecution, and that the prosecution had not proposed to have them as evidence in court.
Uthayakumar, 48, a lawyer, is charged with publishing a seditious letter on the web. The charge carries a maximum RM5,000 fine or three years jail, or both, on conviction.
The published letter, dated 15 Nov 2007, was from Hindraf addressed to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10, Downing Street, London.
Surendran said without the documents, the accused would be prejudiced against as his client could not prove his innocence.
“Why does the prosecution want to hide the documents when they are important in the case? … [T]he charge against my client involves ethnic cleansing that took place in Kampung Medan nine years ago,” said Surendran.
He added that the documents were also important to ensure that the accused got a fair trial.
Uthayakumar, who was seated in the dock, got up suddenly and said the documents were very important as many letters had been sent to the then British prime minister to find out the actual cause for the incident happening.
“The prosecution should be brave to produce the documents for, as the saying goes, if you right, you have nothing to fear,” said Uthayakumar. — Bernama
