The High Court had issued the arrest warrant after the Batu MP failed to turn up for case management.
The warrant was issued as Chua was not present in court for the case management of his appeal on his conviction and sentence after he was found guilty of making a seditious statement four years ago.
When contacted, Chua said he was not present in court as the case had been fixed for case management, and “normally, we do not have to be present”.
“It is no big deal. I just have to present myself in court tomorrow morning, since I did not attend today,” he told FMT.
Neither Chua nor his counsel attended the first mention of the appeal before the court as of 4pm today, prompting judge Sofian Abd Razak to issue the warrant.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Zain Ibrahim appeared for the prosecution.
Meanwhile, Chua’s counsel Latheefa Koya clarified in a statement that her client did not appear in court as his appearance had been dispensed with for case managements prior to this.
“In fact, he was not aware of the case management date today, which had been informed to us as his solicitors only.
“We will attend court and explain the situation to the honourable judge tomorrow, and accordingly apply for the cancellation of the warrant of arrest,” she said.
In September last year, Chua was found guilty of sedition over remarks made at a 2013 forum held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.
He was sentenced to three months’ jail and fined RM1,800. Chua is appealing against the conviction and sentence, while the prosecution is appealing for a harsher sentence.
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Sumber No big deal, says Tian Chua over arrest warrant