Man who called for PM Lee's resignation over Terrex issue charged with unlawful demonstration
Yan Jun (right), who called for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's resignation over the Terrex issue at Raffles Place MRT Station, is seen arriving at court, July 5, 2017. Photo: Najeer Yusof/TODAY
SINGAPORE — A 41-year-old man, who called for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to resign from his post, was charged on Wednesday (July 5) for allegedly holding unlawful demonstrations on two consecutive days at the start of this week.
Yan Jun faces two charges of holding a public assembly without a permit, which include staging a demonstration outside Raffles Place MRT Station at about noon on Monday. He allegedly held a placard which displayed words on one side saying there is “judicial corruption in the Supreme Court”, and on the other side, calling for PM Lee to resign over a “Terrex conspiracy”.
He was offered bail after his arrest on Monday, but the next day, at about 1pm, he again allegedly held a similar demonstration and was detained after that.
Yan could face two other charges for unlawful demonstrations which took place on Oct 20, 2016 at the United States Embassy and on Dec 23, 2016 at the British High Commission. Details of these incidents were not revealed in court.
These aside, Yan was penalised before for taking part in an unlawful public assembly. Last year, he was charged with taking part in two demonstrations against the Singapore judiciary, and was fined S$2,000 last June for one of the charges.
The court heard that in March, he was at Istana Park holding placards with the words “No judiciary corruption in the Supreme Court of Singapore” in English, and “Protest against High Court of Singapore for miscarriage of justice” in Chinese. In April, he did the same at High Street Centre along North Bridge Road.
Back in 2009, Yan was also arrested and detained for 21 hours before he was released without being charged. This was related to a suspected breach of an Expedited Order – which is an urgent Personal Protection Order – taken by his wife against him.
Following this case, Yan filed a civil suit against the Government, claiming damages of S$1,227,135 for wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution among other reasons. His suit was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2014.
On Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Randeep Singh told the court that there was a need to conduct a comprehensive psychiatric assessment on Yan to ascertain if he is fit to submit a plea, and whether his state of mind could have any impact on his offending behaviour.
After Yan was charged last year, an assessment by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) noted that he has narcissistic personality traits, but did not have any serious mental illness. However, Yan refused to fully cooperate for the assessment.
In another IMH report in February this year, Yan was found to be suffering from delusional persecutory disorder, but DPP Singh said that the report was brief.
In committing the offences this week, Yan displayed “unusual behaviour”, which stemmed from the irrational belief that he is being persecuted by law enforcement officers, DPP Singh said.
He added that before Yan staged the demonstration on Monday, he had emailed the police informing them of his plans, but he did not intend to apply for a permit because the police “do not uphold justice” and are “corrupt”.
After his arrest on Monday, Yan refused to answer questions from the police about what he did, referring them instead to a video he had uploaded on YouTube, which touched on judicial corruption.
On Tuesday, when the police approached him, Yan shouted at them using a loud hailer and continued doing this for five minutes.
Addressing District Judge Adam Nakhoda, Yan claimed that his remand at IMH last year for a psychiatric evaluation was “unlawful” and that he did not give his consent to the assessment.
In light of his comments, DPP Singh underscored that there is a need for Yan to go through a thorough psychiatric assessment, and reiterated that his comments suggest irrational fear of law enforcement authorities.
Based on the recent offences, Yan will be remanded at IMH for two weeks for psychiatric observation and will appear in court again on July 19.
For taking part in an illegal public assembly, he could face a maximum fine of S$5,000 as he is a repeat offender.
