KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — The Sessions Court today struck out an application to acquit two Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers and two others for offences under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012, pending a decision by the Federal Court on a similar case.

Sessions Court judge Mat Ghani Abdullah said that he could not acquit the four accused on a charge of failing to gain permission to use Padang Merbok in the national capital as required under Section 15(3) of the PAA, as there is no precedent set by a higher court on the matter.

He also declined an application to acquit the accused of a charge of failing to submit a notice to the police 10 days before holding a rally at the venue on June 22 last year under Section 9(1) of the Act, saying that it would be directly affected by the apex court’s ruling on another PAA case expected this May 27.

Mat Ghani said he would be remiss if he acquitted the four now without waiting for the Federal Court to decide the matter, as doing so would deprive the prosecution the opportunity to pursue the case further.

The judge also ruled that the current charges do not deprive them of their personal liberties as they are already free on personal bonds.

Eric Paulsen, the defence’s lead counsel, said today’s decision was disappointing as it shows just how much latitude is allegedly given to the public prosecutor’s office in pursuing cases.

He said it was as though the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) could disregard judgments by the superior courts to fulfil their “obsession” with using the PAA.

“This sends the wrong message that the AGC can blow hot and cold when it suits them,” he said when met outside court.

Rafizi Ramli and Anthony Loke, along with PAS’s Batu Burok assemblyman Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi and PKR secretariat staff Muhammad Adib Ishar, were slapped with the two charges for organising a “Black 505” rally at Padang Merbok in protest of the May 5 general election last year.

This is the first ruling on the PAA handed by the courts that did not adopt the landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal in declaring Section 9(5) of the Act — which criminalises non-compliance with provisions in the Act — as unconstitutional.

In the judgement delivered late last April, the three-member appellate court panel also acquitted Selangor deputy Speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of a charge of failing to notify police 10 days before a Blackout 505 rally at the Kelana Jaya stadium on May 8 last year.

Yesterday, Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin and two other members of his NGO were given discharges not amounting to acquittals by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court of a charge of failing to notify the police 10 days prior to hosting a rally against the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

They were earlier discharged of a similar charge on April 28.

Nik Nazmi was also granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court on May 6 after he was slapped with a fresh charge under Section 9(5) of the PAA.

The Padang Merbok case will now be brought for mention on June 5, to make way for the AGC’s appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgement on Nik Nazmi’s case at the Federal Court this May 27.

The PAA was introduced by Putrajaya as part of the prime minister’s pledge in 2011 to afford Malaysians greater civil liberties, but has been criticised as more restrictive that the previous law governing public assembly that it replaces.