Nasheed's trial:
Did not request to postpone trial; no objection to it being postponed: PG

The State Prosecutor has said that the Prosecutor General (PG) had not decided to postpone the trial against former President Mohamed Nasheed until the presidential election is over, but he would not have any objection to the trial being postponed by the court.

The State Prosecutor said this in response to a procedural issue raised by Nasheed’s team at the hearing held today.

The State has pressed charges against Nasheed under article 81 of the Penal Code.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Abdullah Rabiu said in court today that the Prosecutor General has no objection to postponing the trial until the election is over, as requested by Nasheed’s legal team.

Elections Commission has scheduled the first round of the presidential election for 7 September.

After the State Prosecutor said that the PG has not objection to postponing the trial, Nasheed’s lawyer Abdullah Shair said that following the agreement by the plaintiff and defendant to postpone the trial, the court can decide to postpone the trial.

Rabiu said in response to this, that Nasheed’s legal team speaks in a manner which is misleading, and clarified that even though the prosecutor general had no objections to postponing the trial, he had not requested to postpone the trial.

Presenting the procedural issue to request to postpone the trial, Nasheed’s lawyer Abdullah Afeef said that since Nasheed is a presidential candidate, the trial concerns the rights of a large number of people.

Afeef said that the constitution guarantees Nasheed the right to contest in the presidential election, and that every citizen has the right to vote for their desired candidate at the election. He said that preventing Nasheed from contesting in the presidential election through a court ruling would deny the rights of the people who wish to vote for Nasheed. He thus requested the court to postpone the trial until after the election.

The court provided both parties opportunities to present their cases regarding the procedural issue. This was followed by a five minute pause, after which the court ruled that it was not possible to postpone the trial until the election is over.

Judge Sujau Usman said while informing the court’s decision on the procedural issue, that it cannot be assumed that Nasheed is a presidential candidate as the Elections Commission has not made any announcement to indicate that Nasheed is in fact a presidential candidate.

He said that the trial could be postponed until the election is over if requested for by the State, but as the State had made no such request, it was not possible to postpone the trial until the end of the election.

Judge Sujau said after announcing the court’s decision that no further opportunities will be given to discuss this procedural issue. He said that the purpose of today’s trial session was to give Nasheed’s team the opportunity to present its defence in detail, as requested by them at the session held on 9 October 2012.

Nasheed’s legal team however, when given this opportunity, refused to present its defence and argued in favour of not proceeding with the trial.

Nasheed pleaded with the judges and said that according to the constitution, he has the right to appeal the decision against postponing the trial until the presidential election is over, in High Court. He thus respectfully requested to end today’s session, as proceeding with it could impede his right to appeal the decision in High Court.

Judge Sujau said that failure by Nasheed’s team to present the defence would mean that the court would move on to allow the State to present statements by its witnesses, former Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh and Deputy Commissioner of Police Ismail Atheef.

Following this, Nasheed’s legal team requested for five minutes to discuss the matter with Nasheed.

When the session resumed after five minutes, the judges announced their decision to postpone the trial by four weeks. This decision was made after speaking with the PG in relation to the letter sent by Nasheed’s team to Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court requesting to postpone the trial even if it is by only four weeks; and because the PG had said that he had no objection to this request.

Nasheed carries charges under Article 81 of the Penal Code, for the illegal detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed for 22 days in Girifushi island through the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), while acting as President and the foremost authority of the military.

Nasheed was released after today’s trial.