TTF: The founder and owner of fake news portal Malaysia Chronicle, Chua was charged under Section 4 (2) of the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 after he allegedly disobeyed police orders by refusing to leave Pulapol after his release
KUALA LUMPUR: Batu MP Chua Tian Chang will serve a month in jail from today for trespassing on the restricted police training centre (Pulapol) here in 2012 after withdrawing an appeal against his conviction.
A three-judge panel in Court of Appeal chaired by Datuk Mohtarudin Baki upheld the jail and RM1,000 fine sentence first imposed by the Sessions Court on January 23, 2014.
The PKR vice-president popularly known as Tian Chua also discharged his lawyer, N. Surendran from the case today, and was also allowed to deliver a speech in court, news portal Malaysiakini reported.
In his speech, a copy which was also emailed to the media outlets, Chua described his penalty for being at the Pulapol against his will as an “absurdity”, pointing out that he was charged not with taking part in an illegal assembly during the Bersih 3 demonstration but with trespass instead.
“If the price for changing this repressive and corrupt system is to go to prison, I shall say I am more than ready to accept.
“At the same time, I would like to emphasise that accepting my prison sentence is not an admission of wrongdoing,” he said in his speech.
He added that he intends to highlight the wrongs of the government, and called on the people “not to be intimidated and frightened by the instruments of oppression”.
The High Court had in 2014 upheld the Sessions Court’s conviction and sentence.
Chua was charged under Section 4 (2) of the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 after he allegedly disobeyed police orders by refusing to leave Pulapol after his release.
He was arrested with 512 rally-goers after the Bersih 3 rally for electoral reform in the national capital here ended.
The offence is punishable by a jail term of up to two years, a fine of no more than RM1,000 or both.
Chua would have automatically lost his parliamentary seat if he had been sentenced to a year or more in jail.
Source: The Malay Mail Online
