District Judge Jasvender Kaur postponed her verdict for the trial of Dr Chee Soon Juan and Mr Yap Keng Ho scheduled for today. The two are charged with speaking in public without permission.
Both prosecution and defence have made their written submissions.
Last week, Dr Chee had asked for the hearing to be reconvened in order to present fresh evidence that was not available to him during the hearing in February.
The court rejected Dr Chee’s application and directed that the date for the decision to remain on 11 Apr 08.
On 8 Apr 08, however, the courts informed parties that the verdict will be postponed to 21 May 08 because of the “urgent scheduling of another trial.”
The defence has argued that the police were acting in a discriminatory manner when applying the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act. The two protests held by the SDP on 15 Mar and CASE on 16 Mar is a case in point.
Such discriminatory application of the law is expressly forbidden under the Singapore Constitution.
Details of Dr Chee’s submissions will be posted next week.