The Court of Appeal will rule on the two applications filed by Suva lawyer Richard Naidu’s counsel in relation to the committal proceedings matter tomorrow.

The matter was called for hearing before a Court of Appeal’s Judge today as the hearing on the substantive matter will be heard this Thursday and Friday.

Naidu’s lawyer had filed an appeal on two rulings delivered by the High Court including their application to cross-examine the Attorney General and to set aside the committal proceedings was set aside.

Jon Apted had filed summons in the High Court on 15th July seeking for order from the court to set aside the ex parte order dated 27th June granting leave to the applicant to apply for an order of committal against the respondent to be set down for hearing in open court.

He had applied to seek orders that Attorney General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum attend the hearing of setting aside summons for cross-examination on his affidavit.

The committal proceedings against Naidu are in relation to a post which appeared on his Facebook page, in which he allegedly made comments about the judiciary after a case.

Apted had filed another application to set aside the ex-parte order in relation to committal proceedings brought by Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

However, both of these applications were refused by the High Court.

During a hearing today, Apted said that this denial is substantive constitutional and common law rights in that it has affected his rights for a oral hearing.

He also said that by refusing the application for an oral hearing at which Naidu’s counsel of choice that is the King’s Counsel could attend breached his right to be represented by a counsel of choice.

He also said by refusing the application his client’s right to remain silent has been breached. He said there is a right to silence.

He highlighted several grounds of appeal saying that these are important issues.

Apted also said questioned about Attorney General and on which kind of power is he exercising when referring committal applications to the court.

He said that the law need to be clarified for Naidu and if the stay is not granted and his client is convicted then there will be serious consequences to his reputation, livelihood and liberty.

He urged to the court to grant their leave to appeal however this was objected to by the Attorney General’s lawyer Gul Fatima.

She asked what will be achieved by if the setting aside and the application to cross-examination is considered as the post will not go away.

She also stated that the conduct of Naidu is not being addressed through these applications.

She said that Naidu did not file any affidavit but are talking about the right to silence.

She said that Naidu’s lawyer keeps talking about constitutional right without understanding what his client’s own conduct has done to his defense in the proceedings.

The ruling on the appeal will be delivered on Wednesday afternoon.