The Civil Court has scheduled a hearing for Raajje Television’s (RaajjeTV) appeal of a fine against the station over allegations of suspending broadcast.

The hearing has been scheduled for 14:00 on Tuesday, and the station has denied violating any regulations set out by the Maldives Broadcasting Commission.

The commission imposed the fine on February 22nd, claiming that its suspension of broadcasting regular content violates their code of conduct.

The commission cited violations of articles 40 and 22 respectively of the code of conduct, to impose a fine of MVR 2,000.

On February 8th, RaajjeTV discontinued broadcast of regular content while the government’s declaration of a state of emergency in the Maldives gave law enforcement officers unconventional authority.

“RaajjeTV suspends regular broadcast due to continued threats on independent journalism, this station, and our staff, given that the police have stopped providing security and in light of the military's warning to have media outlets penalized without prior notice” the station’s message read.

While ‘broadcasting’ is defined by the commission to be continued airing of audio and visual content, the station’s suspension of regular content does not fit into it. The aforesaid message had been aired for the duration that regular content had been suspended.

RaajjeTV, often described by well-known members of the ruling party to be aligned with their political opponents, has been fined several times by the commission, amounting to a total of MVR 1.7 million.