The Criminal Court on Sunday dropped the charges levied against former Prosecutor General, Muhthaz Muhsin and former chief magistrate of Maamigili Magistrate Court, Ahmed Nihan, over the forgery of a warrant to arrest incumbent President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
Although the court dropped two charges against Muhthaz and three against Nihan, both of them had been found guilty of terrorism charges and were slapped a 17-year prison sentence.
Nihan’s appeal hearings have concluded at the High Court.
The sentencing passed by Criminal Court Judge Ahmed Hailam stated that the charges against Muhthaz and Nihan were based on a single act, and that the resulting terrorism charges levied on the two were based on that specific act.
According to Article 60 of the constitution, the prohibition of double jeopardy, which states that if an accused is acquitted of an offence by a court, he shall not be tried again for the same or substantially the same offence, or if an accused is found guilty and punished for an offence, he shall not be tried or punished again for the same or substantially the same offence.
Since the state had prosecuted the two of terrorism over evidence from another charge, Judge Hailam’s sentencing deemed it unlawful to warrant a case of double jeopardy. Furthermore, Judge Hailam said that there was nothing further to investigate in their cases.
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