Criminal Court nullifies remand orders on ex-PG Muhsin and Magistrate Nihan

The Criminal Court has on Sunday nullified it’s order to keep Muhthaz Muhsin, the former Prosecutor General and Magistrate Ahmed Nihan who sat at Maamigili Magistrate Court, in remand for the rest of their trials following the charges raised against them for the alleged procurement of a court order to arrest President Yameen back in 2016.

Although the court nullified their remand for the rest of their trials at Sunday’s hearing, the pair are to remain in prison as they are doing time for convictions after being found guilty for terrorism.

While the court had pressed three separate charges against ex-PG Muhsin, four charges had been pressed on Magistrate Nihan.

Muhsin was Nihan were sentenced to 17 years in prison after being found guilty for conspiring to unlawfully detain President Abdulla Yameen, as well as forging an arrest warrant against him, in June 2016. So far, this has been the only prison conviction imposed on the two.

While the ex-PG and Magistrate are being charged for forging a document which implies that the former PG issued a warrant that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) had not officially asked for, the trial had begun on Sunday over five separate charges against the two.

Moreover, Nihan has been accused of creating false documents, for illicit actions that go against his responsibilities as magistrate, for abusing his power as magistrate as well as being involved in acts that endorse terrorism.

The court’s nullification of the pair’s remand in jail for the remainder of their trials comes while the state had also requested to nullify it after having testified that the charges raised against the pair may not be accurate, having appealed at court to issue a quick verdict in the charges.

Although the court had nullified their remand at Sunday’s hearing, they had not nullified the charges raised against them.

An appeal had been made at the High Court regarding the pair’s terrorism conviction, and while attorneys had appealed at court to release them under bail, the court had at a hearing held last week, rejected the appeal/

Following Magistrate Nihan’s arrest, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had suspended him until the end of his trial. Moreover, ex-PG Muhsin was sacked from his post following incidences that occurred after the arrest of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor following the explosion onboard the Presidential speedboat in 2015. Back then, it was rumored that Muhsin was appointed to the post of PG under Adeeb’s influence.