Maldives ex-president requests to shorten duration of hearings, citing back issues

Incarcerated Former President Abdulla Yameen has expressed concern over the duration of his hearings, due to back problems.

A hearing was held in the trial of Yameen’s prison sentence appealed at the Supreme Court, on Thursday, where the former president requested for shorter hearings, citing his back problems.

Speaking at the hearing, Yameen noted that he faces difficulty in sitting down for long periods of time as his back issues are severe, adding that he finds it difficult to remain seated for more than two hours.

Following this, Justice Mahaz Ali Zahir told the defendant to present documents related to his health, to court, following which a decision will be reached.

Justice Mahaz noted that while around six hours were spent in hearing appeal points, 11 points were submitted. Looking into the details, the justice noted that the appeal form contains 156 points in detail. With this being said, Mahaz noted that the duration of six hours, is considered a long period of time.

He noted that the cooperation of the legal representatives of the defendant is needed in time management, and urged them to not repeat their points when detailing the appeal points.

Earlier this week, on Monday, a hearing in the ongoing trial focused on detailing the remaining appeal points in connection to the case. However, due to time constraints the defendant was unable to go through all of the appeal points, in light of which an additional hearing was scheduled for Thursday.

Both the defendant and state attorneys had presented new evidence in connection to the appeal case of Yameen’s prison sentence. As such, during Sunday’s trial Judge Zahir confirmed that the new evidence has been received and that the judges’ bench had not decided on accepting them during Sunday’s hearing.

The judges presiding over the case are Mahaz Ali Zahir, Azmiralda Zahir and Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim.

Yameen had presented a total of 22 appeal points in the case.

During Sunday’s hearing the ex-president requested the Supreme Court to grant his release on bail, and to delay the execution of his money laundering sentence.

The corruption trial against Yameen over the lease of R. Fuhgiri for resort development, is also ongoing. Further, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Presidential Inquiry Commission on Asset Recovery as well as the Maldives Police Service are currently conducting probes against the ex-president, regarding the MMPRC grand corruption case.

Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison on 28 November 2019, after being found guilty of laundering USD one million through state-owned MMPRC via a private company, Scores of Flair, during his presidential tenure. He was also given a fine totaling USD five million, along with the jail sentence, to be settled within six months.