KARPAL SINGH ! YOU ARE FOUND GUILTY!

KARPAL SINGH ! YOU ARE FOUND GUILTY!

Veteran DAP lawmaker Karpal Singh was found guilty today of sedition over remarks made regarding the Sultan of Perak’s role in the 2009 state constitutional crisis, in a fresh trial following the prosecution’s appeal of his previous acquittal.

In 2010, the DAP national chairman has been acquitted without having to enter his defence over the sedition charge stemming from a press conference in February 2009 in Pudu which he said the Perak Ruler’s decision to remove Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as mentri besar in favour of Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir was open to legal challenge.

Mitigation for sentencing will be held on March 7 to allow time for the defence to produce Karpal's medical report.

Karpal, 74, can be jailed for not more than five years or fined no more than RM5,000, or both. If this sentence is passed, he will automatically lose his parliamentary seat.

The Bukit Gelugor MP was alleged to have said that the removal of Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as mentri besar of Perak by Sultan Azlan Shah could be questioned in a court of law.
Karpal's defence was that he offered a legal opinion and not a threat to the Ruler, who was once the Lord President of the then Supreme Court.
His defence team also contended that the charge was framed in bad faith as there were others who made worse seditious remarks but no action was taken.
"Karpal did not question the Ruler's prerogative to appoint a menteri besar, but his contention is that such power can only be exercised when there is a vacancy," Gobind had said in his submission at the close of the defence's case last month.
"The law allows for Rulers to be sued and it is for this reason that a Special Court was set up in 1993," Gobind said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin said Karpal had uttered seditious words and his intention was irrelevant for the prosecution to prove.
"He has questioned the prerogative of the Sultan under the constitution," she said, adding the statement was made in the midst of a tense political crisis then.
She said the lawyer's words have the tendency to create hatred towards the Ruler.
Azman first acquitted Karpal without calling for his defence in June 2010.
In January 2012, the Court of Appeal ordered Karpal to enter his defence after the public prosecutor's appeal was allowed.

FOOTNOTE: I hope he will not go to jail. At 73 and wheelchair-bound following an accident in 2005, a heavy fine will be sufficient to 'unseat' him as a member of Parliament; and let it be a precedent for us that the Constitution and laws are to be respected to maintain peace and stability in this multi-racial country.