Nasheed is being charged at the Hulhumale Magistrate Court for the unconstitutional arrest of Chief Criminal Judge Abdulla Mohamed during his tenure as president. The procedural points taken up by Nasheed’s legal team at the Hulhumale Magistrate Court include the question whether the court can hold a trial in Male, the legitimacy of the court and the arrest warrant issued against Nasheed. The Court had dismissed two of the three procedural points raised by the defence including the legitimacy of the Hulhumale Court and whether the court can hold a trial in Male. Nasheed’s legal team had raised the same procedural points at the High Court. The Supreme Court last December had declared that the Hulhumale Magistrate Court is a legitimate court. The three Judges bench unanimously ruled that the law does not impede the trial being held at a location other than the Hulhumale Court building. In addition, the bench ruled that there were no grounds to declare the lower court summon sent to Nasheed as legitimate. As the procedural point raised over the legitimacy of the Hulhumale Court had been decided by the Supreme Court, the High Court cannot issue a verdict contradictory to the higher court’s ruling, bench declared. Though Nasheed had asked the High Court to hold off his trial at the lower court until after the presidential election scheduled for September during the last hearing on Sunday, the court had not made any decisions over the ex-President's request. Nasheed had alleged that some of his political rivals were trying to influence his trial in a bid to annul his candidacy for president. Besides former President Nasheed, former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu, former Chief of Defence Force Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel, former Brigadier General Ibrahim Mohamed Didi and Colonel Mohamed Ziyad are also being charged with the unconstitutional arrest of Judge Abdulla Mohamed violating Article 81 of the Penal Code. If found guilty the offence carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail or exile or a fine not exceeding MVR2,000. If Nasheed is convicted and sentenced to a period of more than one year, he would be disqualified from contesting in the upcoming Presidential election.