Tian Chua withdraws appeal, goes to jail

PUTRAJAYA: PKR’s Batu MP Tian Chua has been jailed for a month after he withdrew his appeal before the Court of Appeal on Friday.

This was in relation to his charge of refusing a police order to leave the restricted Police Training Centre (Pulapol) area following the Bersih 3 rally in 2012.

He had appealed against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to uphold the Sessions’ Court sentence of one month’s jail and a fine of RM1,000.

On Friday, the PKR vice-president withdrew his appeal and dismissed his lawyers before delivering a statement from inside the dock.

The panel chaired by Court of Appeal judge Justice Moktaruddin Baki accepted Tian Chua's withdrawal, saying it was his right under the law.

After a brief stand down, the panel, which included Justices Zakaria Sam and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, unanimously upheld the conviction.

The facts of the case are that in the early morning hours of April 29, 2012, the police ordered Tian Chua and other Bersih 3 participants who had been arrested the day before to leave Pulapol.

Tian Chua was then arrested for failing to leave Pulapol. Police said Pulapol was listed as a protected area according to the Protected Areas Order (No 2) 1975.

On May 15 the same year, Tian 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.

Under Article 48 of the Federal Constitution, lawmakers are disqualified from holding office if they are sentenced to not less than a year in prison or fined not less than RM2,000.

Defence lawyer N. Surendran confirmed Tian Chua would be able to contest in the upcoming 14th general election as an MP could only be disqualified should they be sentenced to more than one year's jail or fined above RM2,000, upon conviction.