The Federal Court in Putrajaya today made no ruling on a landmark challenge on constitutionality of street protests brought by seven activists and politicians on the Kita Lawan and Bersih 4 rallies.

Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria, who led a five-member bench, said the fact that these applicants indeed took part in a street protest must first be established.

"We don't want to answer an academic question," Justice Ariffin said.

The apex court will hear the constitutional issue once the fact is established at the trial, Justice Ariffin added.

"They are at liberty (to proceed with the matter) in any stage of the proceedings, after a finding has been made by the judges as to whether they were in fact in a street protest," he elaborated.

The applicants are DAP lawmakers Chong Chieng Jen and Julian Tan, PKR lawmaker Sim Tze Tsin, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah and activists Fariz Musa, Mandeep Singh and Adam Adli Abdul Halim.

'First challege to constitutionality'

According to their lawyers Gobind Singh and Latheefa Koya, this is the first challenge on the constitutionality of street protests.

They want the court to determine whether Sections 4(1)(c), 4(2)(c) and 4(3) of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) are inconsistent with Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

The seven were charged under 4(2)(c) of PAA, which states that participating and organising street protests are offences.

Section 4(1)(c) of PAA states that the right to assembly does not include a street protest while, Section 4(3) of PAA lists the punishment - for which the maximum fine is RM10,000.

Both Chieng Jen and Tan were charged in December 2015 for taking part in Bersih 4 in Kuching.

The other five were charged on Sept 8 for taking part in the Kita Lawan rallies between Feb 28 and March 28.

The other presiding judges were Ahmad Maarop, Hasan Lah, Balia Yusof Wahi and Zaharah Ibrahim.

Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud also appeared in court.

Lawyers Gobind, Chong Siew Chiang and Tan Kee Heng represented Chieng Jen and Tan, while N Surendran and Latheefa Koya acted on behalf of Adam and Fariz.

Ramkarpal Singh, Gooi Hsiao Leung and Arina Ong represented Fariz, Maria, Mandeep and Sim.

Met outside the court later, Gobind said they may come back to apex court after their clients enter their defence.