KUALA LUMPUR – All open court trials and hearings of criminal cases scheduled for today until January 26 have been postponed, following the re-implementation of the movement control order (MCO) to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A statement from the Federal Court’s chief registrar’s office yesterday said the new dates for the trials or hearings will be announced later.
“In urgent cases, the approval of the chief judge of Malaya or the chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak is required prior to holding the trials or hearings of the cases in open court,” the statement read.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his special announcement on Monday said the MCO will be imposed on Penang, Selangor, Melaka, Johor and Sabah, as well as the three Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan) for two weeks starting today.
The statement said for proceedings of criminal cases at all levels of court (federal, appeal, high, sessions and magistrates’), case management will be held via video conferences and emails.
It added that the trials or hearings of civil cases across the country will also be held using such methods.
“For registrations of new cases, the investigating officer is required to inform the court beforehand for preparation purposes, and the date of mention should be fixed after the lifting of the MCO.”
It said applications for remand orders under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and under the Immigration Act 1959/1963 will be done as scheduled, while applications for remand extensions under Section 259 of the CPC will be done using long-distance communication technology.
“For bailable offences, the state court director should ensure that the bail transaction could be processed as usual, as the use of e-bail is encouraged.” – Bernama, January 13, 2021
