First hearing in RaajjeTV's MVR 1 million fine case set for Sunday

The first hearing in the case filed by RaajjeTV over the MVR 1 million fine by the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC), is scheduled for Sunday at the Civil Court.

The hearing is set for 10 am.

The case was sent to trial on the 16th of October, after both parties failed to reach an agreement at the Court's dispute resolution stage. The station seeks to nullify the decision made by MBC, and recover the fine.

The station was fined by MVR 1 million on the 6th of April, for having aired a live speech at an opposition rally on the 26th of October 2016, which the MBC 'believes' to be defamatory towards incumbent President Abdulla Yameen. The fine was levied after an inquiry conducted on the Commission's own initiative.

The report by the Commission said that by broadcasting the content, RaajjeTV had created doubt amongst members of the public over the roles and responsibility of the President and damaged his reputation and dignity.

The content in question, which MBC found as defamatory towards the President are;

"Take a look at any of the projects started out by Abdulla Yameen. Few projects such as a pigeon park was completed", "there are no airports, flats, airports or any other projects created by him", "over the space of three years, how many billion Rufiyaa was handed over by the state coffers to him, nothing done" and "we had received nothing but theft, corruption and pain".

The MVR 1 million fine came hours after RaajjeTV paid the first fine, MVR 200,000 over a news story, under the controversial anti-defamation act.

While RaajjeTV maintains that the Commission's decision to fine the station was unfair and "a direct attack on the station and freedom of media", it was slapped with a third fine of MVR 500,000 in October, for broadcasting comments made by Thimarafushi constituency MP Mohamed Musthafa, on a live program on the 28th of July.