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Press Statement: Malaysian Bar calls for immediate release of 4 arrested lawyers |
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Contributed by Ragunath Kesavan
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Thursday, 01 November 2007 07:11am |
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The Bar Council is concerned that 4 lawyers namely, P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan,
P. Waythamoorthy and Ganapati Rao were arrested late last night, in the course
of carrying out their legal professional duties. We understand that they are
presently held under arrest at the section 11 Shah Alam police station. We were
notified that they were at the police station to represent their clients who
were themselves earlier arrested. These lawyers were denied access to their
clients and were subsequently arrested.
The recently amended section 28A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) allows a
detained person the right to communicate with the legal practitioner of his
choice upon arrest. We are concerned that these arrested persons including the 4
lawyers were denied this right, which is a flagrant breach of the new provision
of the CPC.
The Bar Council calls for the immediate release of these 4 lawyers and we expect
the police to fully comply with the provisions of the CPC involving the rights
of arrested persons.
Dated: 31st October 2007.
Ragunath Kesavan
Vice-President
Malaysian Bar
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