Criminal Court has stated that the sentence on former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will not be mitigated.
The former presidents’ lawyers had requested the Criminal Court to shift him to house arrest due to his poor health. The lawyers stated that the former president suffers from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and emphasized on the care he is required under the doctor’s recommendation.
However, the state prosecutor rebutted stating that police officers are required to check on the former president every three minutes and that Gayoom is given physiotherapy daily, reasoning there was in sufficient justification for a sentence mitigation.
Despite gayoom’s lawyer noting that the former president had fallen five times under the care of the officers and urged for his shft to house arrest, the judge had declined his request. Presiding judge Ahmed Hailam expressed that Maumoon was provided special benefits unlike other detainees, including his meals and time outside of his prison cell and denied his shift to house arrest.
Maumoon was arrested under the state of emergency declared after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on February 1, under accusations of bribery and attempting to stage a coup. He has been charged with terrorism and obstruction of justice remanded until the end of his trial.
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