h2(class). Brev från Siok Chin
bq[en]. Dear friends,
As some of you may know, Chee Soon Juan and I have been convicted of contempt of court and we’ve been sentenced to prison 12 and 10 days respectively. According to reports this is the most severe sentence for contempt of court in recent years.
As we won’t appeal against the conviction, we will most probably start serving our sentences beginning Wednesday 4 June.
In addition to this, ex-Singaporean Gopalan Nair, now a US citizen has been detained by the police for a week in jail in Singapore for “insulting and threatening” the judge who presided over our case.
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The contempt of court resulted from the way the Supreme Court Justice had handled the matter in the trial for the assessment of damages brought on by Lee Kuan Yew and his PM son Lee Hsien Loong against Chee Soon Juan and me.
The judge made it crystal clear whose side she was on. She struck down every application we made and held up every one that the Lee’s lawyers made. As a result of this gross injustice, we spoke up about how we felt we were not getting a fair trial. We asked her to recuse herself for another judge to hear the matter, but she rejected that application.We could not have sat in court and allowed the perversion of justice to continue without at least voicing our disquiet.
Now, we’ll have to spend time in prison. I make no apologies for what I had said in court and I have no regrets having spoken the truth despite the very difficult circumstances with which we have been confronted.
I can only hope that you will continue to stand by those of us in Singapore who are struggling to bring freedom, justice and democracy to our island-nation. I sincerely hope you will do what you can in your own capacities to support for the freedom-advocates here.
I hope to be in touch with you again in 10 days time. Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Siok Chin
