Lower court judgement on Adeeb's weapons charge wrongful, admits State

Former Vice President and leader of Maldivian Third-Way Democrats Ahmed Adeeb was wrongfully convicted as guilty over the weapons possession charge, the State has admitted at Supreme Court on Sunday.

At the Supreme Court hearing, the State further admitted that the guilty verdict against Adeeb issued by the lower court should be overturned.

The lower court sentenced Adeeb to 10 years in prison over weapons possession in 2016. During Sunday’s appeal hearing, Adeeb was given the opportunity to present his charges, during which his lawyer Ismail Mohamed said no sign of a pistol or bullets were found in Adeeb’s possession when searched. Adeeb was charged and convicted based only on the statements of two people, he said.

While it cannot be proven that a pistol was found in Adeeb’s possession, and whatever that was found in Adeeb’s possession is unknown, the witnesses produced to testify against Adeeb are not capable of distinguishing firearms, said Adeeb’s lawyer. Adding that the description of what the witnesses saw cannot be legally classified as a pistol, he recalled that the laws states that a pistol or a gun is an object which can fire a bullet to at least 60 feet.

While the State attorney also admitted to the Supreme Court justice that the evidence against Adeeb was not enough to find Adeeb guilty of his charges according to Article 51 of the Maldivian Constitution, he noted that the Prosecutor General had found that the lower court and High Court ruling on the case to be wrongful after reviewing the case.

Adeeb’s attorney requested the Supreme Court to dismiss the lower court judgement based on the State’s admittance. Chief Justice concluded the hearing, announcing that the day’s hearing was the final hearing and a verdict will be issued next.