KUALA LUMPUR: Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against two High Court decisions that barred him from making statements on his ongoing defamatory and sedition cases.
The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) information committee member's counsel, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, said the appeal was filed last Thursday, but no hearing date has been fixed yet.
"We are asking the Court of Appeal if the decisions of the Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur High Courts were legally right or otherwise.
"To us, the freedom of speech, although not absolute, must provide sufficient space to an accused," he said at a press conference at the court complex, here, today (May 27).
Earlier, Sessions Court judge Siti Aminah Ghazali set July 11 for the prosecution to submit the remaining documents to the defence.
On May 14, the High Court here issued an order against Badrul Hisham from making statements or commenting on his case.
The Johor Baru High Court subsequently made the same order on May 20.
On April 29, the 45-year-old claimed trial at the Sessions Court here on charge of publishing seditious remarks on his Facebook page at 12.15pm in Taman Bukit Cheras on April 6.
The charge under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948, punishable under Subsection 4(1) of the same act, provides a RM5,000 maximum fine or a jail term not more than three years or both upon conviction.
Badrul Hisham made the same admissions for uttering defamatory remarks believed to tarnish the good name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The offence was committed at the Office of the Comptroller of Royal Household, Istana Negara, at 6pm on Jan 22.
The charge under Section 500 of the Penal Code carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment or a fine or both upon conviction.
On April 30, Badrul Hisham pleaded not guilty at the Johor Baru Sessions Court to publishing seditious material about a casino project in Forest City.
He was accused of committing the act via his Facebook account at Mutiara Villa in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, at 6.30pm on April 26.