Six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists have obtained a consent settlement in their civil suit against the government and 81 other respondents over wrongful arrest and false imprisonment in 2011.

The settlement was recorded today before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Hue Siew Kheng.

Based on the terms of settlement, the government - as the first defendant - and six arresting officers are required to pay RM200,000 and costs as damages.

T NONE hose who were arrested under the Emergency Ordinance are Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj and PSM activists Choo Chon Kai, Sarat Babu, M Sarasvathy, M Sukumaran, and A Letchumanan.

The EO6 - as they have been dubbed - were detained for 28 days without specific reasons during a controversial police crackdown on civil rights groups and opposition parties in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform on July 9, 2011.

The list of defendants who have to pay are:

1) The Malaysian government (the first defendant),

2) D Selvakumar (the 20th defendant),

3) YK Rajendran (the 23rd defendant),

4) Khairulamar Md Nawani (the 32nd defendant),

5) Boo Khoi Fong (the 39th defendant),

6) S Balamurali (the 45th defendant), and

7) Koay Seng Chai (the 63rd defendant).

'Historic moment for the people'

Met outside the courtroom, Jeyakumar described this as a historic moment for the people because the government has admitted its mistake by paying damages.

“And they (defendants) are giving us RM200,000, but of course the money is never the important issue, the issue is the government must accept and pay for the mistake,” he said.

“We all hope (that) this will be a lesson for the police, (for them) to act more professionally and don’t misuse their powers,” added Jeyakumar.

Prior to the judgment today, the EO6 faced several actions by the authorities against them.

After their release from 28-day detention, they were charged with being in possession of subversive documents, together with 24 other party activists accused of a similar crime during their ‘Udah Bersaralah’ roadshow on June 25 in 2011.

All 30 were initially detained on suspicion of planning to wage war against the Agong. However, the charges were later amended to posing a threat to public order.

But later on, charges against the 30 were dropped soon after the government announced plans to repeal the EO, as well as other detention-without-trial legislation.

Following this, the EO6 filed a suit against the government and 81 others, prominently naming the home minister, the inspector-general of police (IGP), deputy IGP, the attorney-general and a large group of police personnel as defendants.