Two of the 12 men who were arrested for supporting defunct terror group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were charged today, while additional charges were slapped on 10 others, who were already charged earlier this week.
At the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today, Malacca local authority councillor V Suresh Kumar, 43, and B Subramaniam, 57, were charged with allegedly having shared material on the LTTE on their Facebook pages.
They were charged under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code before judge Azura Alwi.
The offence carries life imprisonment or jail of up to a maximum of 30 years, or a fine. They can also have any of their properties used in the offence confiscated upon conviction.
Meanwhile, Seremban Jaya assemblyman P Gunasekaran and Gadek assemblyman G Saminathan together with eight others were slapped with additional counts of supporting the terrorist organisation through their Facebook accounts as well as for possessing materials related to the group.
The 10 had charges levelled against them earlier in the week in the separate courts in Johor, Malacca, Selangor, Perak and Penang.
The remaining eight are S Arivainthan, M Pumugan, S Chandru, S Thanagaraj, R Sundram, A Kalaimughilan, V Balamurugan, and S Teran.
Today, all 12 were charged in separate courts at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex.
They were each charged with committing the offences at the Office of E8(M) Investigating Officer of the Special Branch Bukit Aman, at 9 am and 3 pm, between Jan 11 and Oct 11 this year.
The charge under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code provides for a life sentence or a maximum of 30 years or fine and forfeiture of any asset used or intended to be used to commit the offences, upon conviction.
All 12 men were produced before judges Rozina Ayob, Azman Ahmad and Azura Alwi in three separate Session Courts.
Their cases will be mentioned tomorrow as lawyer Ramkarpal Singh urged Rozina to transfer the matter to High Court for the defence to raise constitutional issues on the right to get bail.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Iskandar Ahmad lead the prosecution team in the three courts.
They will be held at Sungai Buloh prison pending disposal of their cases.
Their pleas will be recorded at the High Court later.
LTTE was labelled a terrorist organisation under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act in February 2014.
Sri Lanka, the United States, Canada, India and the European Union have also labelled LTTE as a terrorist group.
Almost two-thirds of the courtroom was filled with family members.
Several DAP leaders, including Charles Santiago, M Kula Segaran and Teresa Kok, had turned up to show support.
Earlier reports:
Oct 29, Security Guard, Storekeeper Charged with Possession of LTTE Items
Oct 29, Two DAP Reps, Others Charged with Supporting LTTE