High Court orders to temporarily halt all court proceedings for four minors indicted for February 8th Thinadhoo riots

High Court has issued a stay order to temporary halt all court proceedings for the three minors charged with terrorism for vandalizing the Police Station in Gaadu Dhaalu Thinadhoo during the riots on February 8th last year.

The High Court order upon Juvenile Court states that a procedural issue taken up in Juvenile Court by the defendants has been appealed in High Court by one the minors. Thus, the Court believes that continuing the case before the High Court has ruled on the procedural issue could result in the infringement of the rights of the defendant.

The procedural issue appealed in High Court is a matter regarding the Juvenile Court’s refusal to issue a copy of the witness statements against them, to the defendants.

A senior official from the Juvenile Court said that the defendants had requested the statements under the regulation on the right to obtain information from state institutions and that the Juvenile Court restricted the information because the regulation states that no government institution is obliged to divulge information that are classified as secret.