The sedition charge against PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua for a remark on the intrusion into Lahad Datu, Sabah, by militants was thrown out by a sessions court in Kuala Lumpur today.

Sessions judge Norsharidah Awang said the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case and she acquitted and discharged Tian Chua, whose real name is Chua Tian Chang.

Following his acquittal, Tian Chia criticised Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein for using harsh words in implicating and caused hatred against him.

He said he wants Hishammuddin to retract his statement against him as it was played up by the mainstream media for about a month.

Despite the acquittal, the Batu MP is still facing another sedition charge lingering over him which has been fixed for further case management on Jan 16.

Tian Chua was charged in the sessions court in Kuala Lumpur last year with making a statement that the militant intrusion in Lahad Datu was a planned conspiracy by Umno to divert attention and frighten the people.

He was accused of saying so at Fraser Business Park in Jalan Metro Pudu, off Jalan Yew, Kuala Lumpur about 11am on March 1,2013, and he pleaded not guilty to the charge on March 14.

The charge, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act, 1948, is punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act and carries a fine of RM5,000 or three years’ jail or both for a first-time offence.

In her decision judge Norsharidah said that there was no corroboration of evidence among the three prosecution witnesses who were called in to testify.

'Complainant not sure what Tian Chua said'

The three were the complainant who lodged the police report, the investigating officer and a former Suara Keadilan reporter.

The judge said the complainant was not sure what was said by Tian, and only relied on what was reported by the PKR mouthpiece.

She also said the reporter, meanwhile, admitted that her editors had changed what she had written in her report.

The reporter, the judge said, could not read her own handwriting and she admitted that what she wrote was based on her memory and also, background retrieved from the Philippines Star media.

"The witness said she wrote based on her understanding and it is not verbatim, which she also admits," the judge said.

Lawyers N Surendran, Latheefa Koya and Eric Paulsen represented Tian Chua.

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