KUALA LUMPUR – Crackhouse Comedy Club owner Mohamad Rizal van Geyzel today filed a second representation to drop the charges against him for creating and initiating the distribution of videos that touch on racial sensitivity on social media.
Lawyer M. Pravin, representing Rizal, informed sessions court judge N. Priscilla that the letter of representation was submitted following a new development in the case.
“Therefore, we request that the trial of this case begin in June, while the previously set trial dates of April 14 and May 2, 3, and 22 are vacated, pending the decision on the representation.
“We will also submit an application for a temporary release of our client’s passport to enable him to perform the umrah from May 15 to 30,” he said.
The court then fixed May 31 for the decision on the representation and set June 1 and 2 as new trial dates.
On January 20, the Attorney-General’s Chambers rejected the representation filed by Rizal on December 12, last year to have the three charges dropped.
According to the three charges, Rizal, 40, was accused of making and initiating the transmission of offensive communications with intent to offend others via Facebook using the profile name “Rizal van Geyzel,” Instagram profile “rizalvangeyzel,” and TikTok account “rizalvangeyzel,” between July 4 and 6, 2022.
The three posts were read at the Cyber and Multimedia Crime Investigation Division Office, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Bukit Aman Police Headquarters, 27th Floor, KPJ Tower here, at 1.17pm, on July 13, 2022.
The charges were framed under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 – punishable under Section 233(3) of the same act – which provides a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both, and shall be further fined RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction, if convicted. – Bernama, April 6, 2023
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