The appeal by the plaintiffs in the Apcet II case before the Court of Appeal and the government's cross-appeal has been put off to another date.

This came after one of the three judges on the bench, Justice Azahar Mohamad, announced that he was recusing himself from hearing the appeal.

Justice Azahar, who was once the head of the Civil Division at the Attorney-General's Chambers, decided to opt out as he may have looked at files of the case.

According to Azahar, he was the prosecuting officer in the arrest and detention of the 29 plaintiffs.

Following this Justice Low Hop Bing, who headed the panel, postponed the matter to April 26.

apcet ii hearing mob photos 100306 confront The government has been ordered to pay RM870,000 as general damages to 29 individuals who were detained by the police when Umno Youth members disrupted the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II) on Nov 9, 1996.

The order was made by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, which on Dec 22, 2009, awarded the 29 litigants general damages of RM30,000 each.

Following this, the litigants filed an appeal on the quantum, while the government filed a cross-appeal, resulting in today's matter.

apcet II 221209 kua kia song Former Kuala Lumpur police chief Ismail Che' Ros, former Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali, investigations officer chief inspector Tengku Hamzah Tengku Abdullah and the Malaysian government were named as respondents.

Among the high profile plaintiffs are former PRM secretary-general Sanusi Othman, former PKR deputy president and senator Syed Husin Ali. Batu MP Tian Chua, Malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran, editor-in-chief Steven Gan and former Malaysian Trades Union Congress president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamad.

Others include Subang MP R Sivarasa, Parti Sosialis Malaysia president Dr Nasir Hashim and  Suaram director Kua Kia Soong ( above, left ).

The Apcet II litigants were represented by Ranjit Singh and Rashid Ismail in today's proceeding while senior federal counsel Iznan Ishak appeared for the government.

SPECIAL REPORT: Apcet II trial