The continued hearing of the 'Apcet II' suit which was to take place at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today has been adjourned following the elevation of the presiding judge to the Court of Appeal.

Justice Wan Adnan Muhamad - who heard the Apcet II case since March 2006 - was elevated to the Court of Appeal together with seven other High Court judges last month.

Following this, the lawyer for the 36 plaintiffs - a group of local activists and journalists - filed an application to the Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim last week for the matter to be heard before the same judge.

As there was no response from the chief justice's office, High Court judge Aziah Ali who met both parties' counsel in chambers this morning fixed Sept 19 to mention the matter before fixing a proper date for hearing, said a counsel for plaintiffs' Abdul Rashid Ismail.

"Our grounds for the application are that seven witnesses had been called so far and the case is an old case," he said, adding that the Attorney-General's Chamber had no objection on the application.

M Moganambal, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, was also present today while senior federal counsel Iznan Ishak represented the respondents.

The RM83 million civil suit was filed by the 36 plaintiffs against the Malaysian government and several police officers for wrongful detention and police negligence after Umno Youth-led mob stormed into an international conference on East Timor in 1996.

Online daily malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran and editor-in-chief Steven Gan, both journalists at The Sun then, are also among the plaintiffs.