Maldives Excessive Court docket overturns ex-President Abdulla Yameen’s jail sentence | Information

Determination comes days earlier than the Indian Ocean archipelago nation holds parliamentary elections.

A court docket within the Maldives has overturned the conviction of former President Abdulla Yameen and cancelled his 11-year jail sentence.

The Excessive Court docket stated on Thursday that his 2022 trial had been unfair and ordered a brand new trial.

“The decrease court docket ruling was not honest,” Decide Hassan Shafeeu stated whereas studying out a prolonged choice that was broadcast dwell.

The choice was made three days earlier than the Indian Ocean archipelago nation holds a parliamentary election, by which Yameen is fielding candidates from a political celebration he fashioned whereas serving his sentence.

Yameen was convicted on two costs when a court docket discovered he had accepted a bribe to grant a lease on an islet for tourism improvement whereas he was in energy from 2013 to 2018.

Thursday’s ruling set that verdict apart. The excessive court docket overturned the jail sentence on account of procedural irregularities and ordered a decrease court docket to restart the trial on costs of bribery and cash laundering. Yameen can be on trial for separate bribery costs on the court docket.

Yameen’s co-accused Yusuf Naeem, a businessman who was stated to have paid the alleged bribe of $1m, was additionally freed.

Yameen, 64, had been held on the high-security Maafushi Jail however was transferred to deal with arrest the day after his ally, Mohamed Muizzu, received presidential elections in September.

The professional-China former chief had borrowed closely and constructed hundreds of homes and different infrastructure throughout his five-year tenure.

The Maldives will maintain its parliamentary election on Sunday.