The Maldives Poilice Service has said that former President Mohamed Nasheed would not be coerced or detained in order to ensure his presence at tomorrow’s trial at Hulhumalé Magistrate Court.
Nasheed has been summoned by the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court in relation to a criminal prosecution against him for the unlawful arrest and enforced disappearance of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdullah Muhammad during Nasheed’s presidency, in January this year. Although Nasheed was summoned to the first hearing of the proceedings on Sunday last week, Nasheed ignored the court summon, and left Malé for a campaign tour in the southernmost atolls of the country, without even informing the court.
Hulhumalé Court then rescheduled the first hearing for the coming Sunday, and issued an order on the police obliging the latter to enforce it.
A Press Release by the Police today said that they had already asked Nasheed to attend the trial tomorrow, in accordance with the Order of Hulhumalé Court, which obliges the police to ensure Nasheed’s presence at the trial, under Section 5(C) of Regulation on Summoning Persons to Court.
Police Statement expressly mentioned that Hulhumalé Magistrate Court Order was “not an order to produce Nasheed at the trial by keeping him in detention, and therefore Nasheed would be brought to the hearing with his consent”.
Police Statement also said that “Courts usually order the Maldives Police Services to produce persons at trials by keeping them in detention, and that is under Section 17 of the Regulation on Summoning Persons to Court”.
Section 17(a) of the Regulation on Summoning Persons to Court says that if the Court regards ensuring the presence of a person at the court in relation to an ongoing trial by keeping him or her in detention to be the best choice in a particular circumstance, the Court can do so through the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS), or the Maldives Police Services, or any other authority which has the legal power to detain persons, by issuing a Court Order to that effect.
Hulhumalé Magistrate Court’s Order on the police to ensure Nasheed’s presence at tomorrow’s trial refers not to Section 17, but to Section 5(c), which stipulates that if someone refuses to accept a court summon, or if someone receives a summon and then fails to produce himself at the court without appropriate and acceptable reason in relation to a criminal trial, the Court can order his presence to be ensured through the Police or DPRS.
Nasheed, who is now in the southernmost atolls of the country in a campaign tour, has requested the Court to delay and reschedule his trial. However, the Media and Publications Unit of the Judiciary said today that the request would not be entertained, as it cannot be in accord with the Regulation on Summoning Persons to Court.