Man on trial for unlawful demonstration offered no evidence in defence
On Friday morning (Aug 11), when Yan was escorted into court, he shouted at those present in the courtroom that he “had no intent of coming here”. “I was forced to come here … to attend this unfair hearing,” he yelled. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The prosecution closed its case on Friday (Aug 11) against Yan Jun, the Singaporean who allegedly held an unlawful demonstration in the Central Business District last month and asked Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to resign.
On the second day of the trial, Yan, 41, who was unrepresented, did not enter any evidence in his own defence. He had claimed trial against his charges of holding a public assembly without a permit, which included staging two demonstrations last month at the area outside Raffles Place MRT Station, where he called on the Prime Minister to step down and also criticised the judicial system.
He also faces two other charges for similar offences outside the United States Embassy and the British High Commission last year. Related to these, the prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Victoria Ting, called four more witnesses to the dock on Friday.
The court heard that on Oct 20, 2016, Yan was outside the United States Embassy holding two placards: One asking PM Lee to resign, and another that read, “No judicial corruption in the Supreme Court of Singapore”.
He allegedly did the same two months later outside the British High Commission.
On Friday morning, when Yan was escorted into court, he shouted at those present in the courtroom that he “had no intent of coming here”. “I was forced to come here … to attend this unfair hearing,” he yelled.
When it was his turn to address the court, he veered from topic to topic. He claimed that he had sent email messages to PM Lee and the Hong Kong authorities about the case of the Singapore army’s Terrex vehicles that were seized in Hong Kong and later returned to Singapore.
He also asked why he was released “unconditionally” by the police after his previous arrests, but charges are pressed against him now.
When asked to provide evidence in relation to his charges, he claimed that he “was not given a chance to access legal documents and evidence” because he was “locked up in prison”.
Asked again, Yan said that he wanted to summon Second Solicitor-General Mavis Chionh, as well as Attorney-General Lucien Wong, to address judicial corruption and the issue of the Terrex vehicles.
The prosecution reminded him that he was facing charges under the Public Order Act and the allegations of judicial corruption “were irrelevant to the charges”.
District Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed and dismissed Yan’s request.
The hearing will resume on Monday.
