The ‘disappearance’ of an Indian businessperson charged for illegal assembly at the Bar Council’s Human Rights Festival continues to stump the judge and lawyers.

Ashraf Ali Raja, one of the eight that were arrested last year, has been out of contact with his lawyer, M Puravalen since the trial began.

He was arrested with N Surendran, Latheefa Koya, R Sivarasa, Eric Paulsen, Amer Hamzah, Noor Aza Othman and Anthony Andu when they marched from the Sogo department store to Central Market in Kuala Lumpur to mark International Human Rights Day on December 9 last year.

human rights day march All eight were subsequently charged for participating in an illegal assembly and disobeying police orders to disperse.

KL sessions court judge Komathy Suppiah first heard concerns raised by Puravalen that the trial should not continue if one of the accused is missing.

He told the court that he has been unable to receive instructions from his client thus creating several problems for the defence team.

According to the lawyer, he is unable to withdraw from representing Ashraf because he cannot communicate his intentions to his client.

"Ethically, I don’t have a right to discharge myself from representing Ashraf knowing that he has a medical condition. He is unwell based on his psychiatric report," he revealed.

Two witnesses quizzed

Puravalen then tendered some documents on Ashraf’s psychiatric and immigration records to DPP Raja Rozela Raja Toran which showed that the accused is in India at the moment.

He also disclosed that the psychiatric reports came from Ashraf’s bailor Jonson Chong who received the documents from Ashraf’s father in India.

Komathy then heard arguments from both sides whether the attorney-general can separate the charges and allow the case to proceed without Ashraf.

Before deciding on this matter, the judge told the prosecutors to bring in the first two witnesses.

Two police photographers - lance corporal Osman Taarifshah and corporal Nazi Abdullah - were brought and were quizzed on the events during the arrest by DPP Norizan Arifin.

Both confirmed they were on duty that day and were tasked to take pictures of the march.

After the examination-in-chief ended, Komathy adjourned the hearing to May 28 to give Raja Rozela time to go through the documents tendered.

Pictorial: A human rights march cut short