“If my appeal today at the High Court is dismissed, I will have to proceed to my final appeal at the Court of Appeal.
“I cannot stand in the election this year if the Sessions Court’s decision is upheld, and if elections are called next month,” he told reporters after attending an appeal hearing on his conviction for insulting a policeman.
Judicial Commissioner Ab Karim Haji Ab Rahman will decide on March 2 whether Tian Chua can quash his conviction under Section 509 of the Penal Code for insulting the modesty of a policeman, as well as the RM3,000 fine imposed by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court last year.
He will not be able to stand in the 14th general election if he fails to reduce the fine.
This is as Article 48 of the Federal Constitution disqualifies a person from being an MP for five years should the elected representative be convicted and sentenced to more than one year in jail, or fined more than RM2,000.
Last year, Tian Chua was found guilty of insulting senior policeman DSP Glenn A Sinappah by using vulgar words.
He committed the offence at the main entrance of Armada Hotel at 7.45pm on April 14, 2014.
The charge under Section 509 of the Penal Code carries a maximum jail term of five years, or fine, or both, upon conviction.
At the hearing today, Tian Chua’s lawyer N Surendran said the case should never have been brought against him under Section 509, and that the more appropriate charge would be under the Minor Offences Act.
“He had no intention of insulting the modesty of the senior officer. He uttered the vulgar words because he was angry that his phone was confiscated,” Surendran added.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Huda Mohd Nor however argued that the words Tian Chua had used were very sensitive as they were targeted at insulting the person in question.
Tian Chua was jailed for a month by the Court of Appeal on Sept 29 last year, after withdrawing his appeal against his conviction and jail sentence for refusing to obey a police order to leave a restricted area during the 2012 Bersih 3 rally.
He was also fined RM1,800 and jailed for three months by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court under a separate conviction for making seditious statements at a forum in 2013.