One of the longest-running cases in Malaysian legal history is set to conclude with the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court today tentatively fixing March 17 next year for a decision o­n the 'false' news' trial involving labour activist Irene Fernandez.

The date will mark exactly eight years since Fernandez was arrested for allegedly publishing false information relating to the deaths of inmates at immigration detention camps.

Fernandez ( photo ) was arrested o­n March 18, 1996, and subsequently charged under Section 8A(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) for "maliciously publishing false news" after she released a memorandum during a press conference in August 1995 about torture and deaths in camps for illegal immigrants.

Closing arguments

The trial, which began in June 1996, has dragged o­n for over seven years. If convicted, Fernandez could face up to three years in prison and/or a fine of up to RM20,000. She is currently o­n bail.

The trial was to have continued today with testimonies from former female inmates of a detention camp.

However, due to the unavailability of these witnesses, the court set dates to hear closing arguments of the case.

Defence counsel M Puravalen told the court that the defence is closing its case after failing to secure the presence of female witnesses for further testimony.

"We took steps to bring in female witnesses but we did not manage to do it so we are closing our case," he said.

Submission period

He then requested for a minimum three-month period before the deadline for the defence submission o­n grounds that the case was an "unusual o­ne" due to its length.

"Both parties had called a total of more than 50 witnesses and the hearing had lasted over seven years. There are more than 2,200 pages of notes of evidence and we have also raised several points of law for consideration by the High Court and Appeals Court so all these need to be examined," he said.

Responding to his request, magistrate Juliana Mohamed determined three dates over the next 12 months for the prosecution and defence teams to submit their written submissions to the court.

On June 30, the defence is expected to give its submission while the public prosecutor is scheduled to provide a reply o­n Oct 15.

The defence team was then given another month until Nov 17 for its counter-submission, before a decision is scheduled for next March 17.