Riyaz: Don’t have to be arrested for political talk

Deputy Leader of Jumhooree Party and the former Commissioner of Police, Abdulla Riyaz has said that people do not have to be arrested by the police for what politicians say at political podiums.

Talking to the press outside the Criminal Court after a closed hearing in his trial for obstructing the duty of a law enforcement officer, Riyaz, who is also the MP for Kimbidhoo constituency, said that recently, political figures are being arrested and charged with crimes to gain a political motive with no other reason.

He said that oppositions do not have to be in constant praise of the government but their main responsibility to work to make the government responsible. Riyaz accused the government of arresting opposition figures to stop the effort.

MP Riyaz criticized the Maldives Police Service as well saying that he has cooperated fully since the start of his investigation but the police had failed to inform him when the investigation was complete.

He said that he learned that a case against him was going to trial through the news media and that is not how it is said in the police regulations. The former Police Commissioner said that the police regulation states that the parties in the investigation has to be notified before the case goes to trial.

The hearing last night was of the trial where he is being accused of the of obstruction for refusing to input the unlock code of his phone under a court order after it was confiscated in relation to a criminal case on 27 March 2017.

At the hearing last night, Riyaz had given the code to the police. And so a decision would be made on proceeding with the case would be made at a hearing on Sunday according to the legal team of the JP Deputy Leader.