Thirteen people arrested during a mass protest against Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir in 2009 will enter their defence against a charge of being present at an illegal assembly.
The people in the group, however, were let off the hook from another charge of disobeying the police, said their lead counsel Augustine Anthony.
He said the Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court found that the prosecution was unable to prove a prima facie case on the second charge, framed under Section 27(4) of the Police Act 1967.
Augustine, who leads a team of five other lawyers in representing the group, said the acquittal was good news as it absolves the 13 of the heavier of the two charges slapped against them.
Had the court decided to proceed with the charge under the Police Act, the group would have faced the possibility of getting a RM2,000 fine and a one-year jail term with no option to be bound over, he said.
Augustine said this leaves the 13 to face a lesser charge over their “presence in an illegal assembly”, framed under Section 145 of the Penal Code which carries a penalty of up to two years' jail, but with the option of being bound over at the discretion of the judge.
“There is the expectation that people would plead guilty (to this charge) because it is a minor offence, but the 13 have decided to fight it,” he said when contacted after the court ruled on their two charges earlier today.
The Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court has set the group's defence to be heard over four days from May 30-31 and June 1-2.
DAP national vice-chairperson and Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran said Pakatan Rakyat is giving its full support to the 13, stressing that the coalition will provide them with legal representation until the end of their court battle.
The 13 were arrested by police after a full afternoon of protests in Kuala Kangsar against the decision to swear-in Zambry as Perak Menteri Besar in February 2009, not long after the controversialouster of Nizar Jamaluddin from the post.
The protests were among the more aggressive seen in recent years, with sporadic clashes between some 3,000 Pakatan supporters and riot police as they attempted to march on the Istana Iskandariah in a bid to scuttle Zambry's swearing-in.