Police to release 11 suspects in light of Criminal Court ruling
26 Oct 2011, 7:13 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
The Maldives Police Service has decided it would no longer detain suspects arrested without a warrant on suspicion of having committed an offence after Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed ruled Monday night that the arrest of Gassan Maumoon violated article 46 of the constitution.
Article 46 states, “No person shall be arrested or detained for an offence unless the arresting officer observes the offence being committed, or has reasonable and probable grounds or evidence to believe the person has committed an offence or is about to commit an offence, or under the authority of an arrest warrant issued by the court.”
The legal team of the former President’s son argued at court that a Supreme Court ruling (page 11 point 11) on July 11, 2010 – which overturned a High Court ruling extending the arrest of MPs Abdulla Yameen and Gasim Ibrahim for alleged bribery – established a precedent for interpreting article 46.
Gassan’s lawyers contended that his arrest did not fall under the exceptions provided for in article 46 where a suspect could be taken into custody without an arrest warrant.
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