The Shah Alam High Court today heard the application of human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar to strike out two contempt and criminal charges against him and fixed April 8 to resume proceedings o­nce a certified court document is in hand.

Judge Suriyadi Halim Omar said it was important for him to first peruse the proceeding notes of a Sepang Magistrate's Court session o­n Sept 3 last year, in which Uthayakumar had allegedly shown contempt of court and intimidated a chief inspector during cross-examination.

Both the prosecution and counsel had produced the notes but the document was not a certified true copy.

"I need to peruse the document to gauge whether the counsel had acted over and above. It will become a point of contention if I were to look at the notes of which the authenticity could not be ascertained," said the judge.

Uthayakumar was charged under Section 228 of the Penal Code for contempt of court and Section 506 for criminal intimidation of the chief inspector.

If found guilty, he faces a maximum of two years jail and a fine for the first offence, and a maximum of six months jail and a fine for the second.

Ill-intent charges

Counsel M Manoharan argued that the charges were ill-intent and meant to silence his client who is a staunch critic of police brutality from performing his duty in representing the family of S Tharmarajen, a 19-year-old youth who died in police custody last June.

During the inquiry into the custodial death, Uthayakumar was said to have questioned chief inspector G Ponniah in a manner which implied that the investigating officer of Tharmarajen's case was responsible for his death.

Uthayakumar was also said to have ignored the warning by magistrate Norazmi Norawi to "keep quiet or get out of the court".

Meanwhile, Manoharan said the ill-intent against his client was obvious when he was charged before the same magistrate.

When asked by the judge, the counsel said he "would still be unhappy" if Norazmi was discharged from hearing the case while the charges against Uthayakumar remain.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Abd Majid Hamzah reminded the judge that charges and all related matters are the purview of the Attorney General's Chambers and a hearing by court to decide whether or not any charges should proceed would have serious legal implications.

In response to this, Judge Suriyadi said he was aware of the respective prerogatives of the court and AG Chambers, adding that he would refer to the proceeding notes before making any decision at the coming hearing.

Double jeopardy

When met outside the court later, Uthayakumar claimed that his prosecution was related to his work to help the families of detainees who died in police custody.

"The AG Chambers already lodged a complaint to the Malaysian Bar disciplinary board last year about my misconduct before the magistrate and now they are charging me.

"This is putting me in a double jeopardy," he told reporters.

However, the pro tem secretary-general of Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) said he was happy that the High Court had decided to hear his case.

"I will accept whatever outcome of the hearing. I have faith in the country's judiciary system," he said.

Accompanying him this morning were several family members of those who died while under police detention and a few supporters.

Also present were observers Edmund Bon from the human rights committee of the Bar Council and Ramdas Tikamdas from the National Human Rights Society (Hakam).