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24 PSM members freed after court discharges them

The Sun Daily - October 10, 2011

Seberang Perai – The Butterworth Sessions Court here today gave a discharge not amounting to acquittal to 24 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members who were charged with associating with an unlawful society and being in possession of subversive documents.

In a courtroom packed with the media, NGO representatives and lawyers today, Judge Ikmal Hishan Mohd Tajuddin said that the individuals, including the six who were detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO) 1969, were free to go.

He said they were discharged from the offences under Section 48(1) of the Societies Act for possessing Bersih 2.0 pamphlets, and Section 29(1) of the Internal Security Act (ISA) for carrying subversive documents.

Both offences were allegedly committed at Sungai Dua toll plaza of the North-South Expressway on June 25 at about 3.30pm. Ikmal Hishan then fixed Oct 28 for the trial of six other members who were not present at court this morning.

Those who were absent were Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, M. Sukumaran, M Santhana Devi, M Ravindran, M Kavitha and S Thivya Kumar. While Jeyakumar was attending a court case in Kuala Lumpur on the same day, the others were attending to a funeral of a family member.

Thirty PSM members and supporters were initially arrested on June 25 while on their "Udahlah tu... Bersaralah" (That's enough... Retire) roadshow on suspicion of planning to "wage war against the Agong".

The police detained six activists from the group, dubbed the "EO6", for 28 days under the EO over their "role" in the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally.

After the EO6 were released, they were charged at the Butterworth sessions court on Aug 3 under the Societies Act and the Internal Security Act for allegedly possessing subversive documents.

Earlier in court, lead counsel for the accused C.V. Prabhakaran had asked the court to discharge and acquit all 30 of them as the Internal Security Act 1960 will be repealed by the government next March.

DPP Suhaimi Ibrahim however objected, citing the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0)'s application to nullify the government's order to declare the movement illegal, which is still pending in the Putrajaya courts.

Once the judge had announced his decision, the courtroom erupted to cheers of "Hidup Rakyat, Hidup Perjuangan" (Long live the people, long live the fight).

The 24 PSM accused were seen holding up a banner "Terima Kasih, Kuasa Rakyat Bebaskan EO6" (Thank you, the people's power freed the EO6) as they proudly walked out of court.

Prior to this, on Sept 19, PSM was informed via email that the charges against them were being dropped on the recommendation of the Attorney-General.

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