The Supreme Court of Maldives has decided to pursue a case of suo moto against the members of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).
The court has come to this decision after summoning the members of the HRCM to court this afternoon. A suo moto case is based on charges that are initiated by the court.
President of HRCM Mariyam Azra told Sun that the Supreme Court has decided to pursue a suo moto case against HRCM members, and that the members were informed of this today.
She said that the case is scheduled to take place next Wednesday.
“The members of the commission were summoned to hand over the ‘chits’ about the report. Nothing else was said regarding this matter in court,” said Azra.
This comes soon after HRCM stated in its recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission, that the judicial system of the country is controlled and influenced by the Supreme Court, weakening the judicial powers vested in other superior and lower courts.
The Supreme Court has previously pursued a case of suo moto against former President of Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq, and former Vice President of Elections Commission Ahmed Fayaz, claiming that they had criticized decisions made by the court. The case was concluded with the court declaring that both of them had lost their positions, and sentencing them to 6 months in prison. However, enforcement of the sentence has been postponed.