Yameen will be released in March: Lawyers

Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom will appeal against the Criminal Court's December verdict in the next few weeks and he will be released in March, his legal team said Tuesday.

Yameen's legal team held a press conference at M. Dhimyaath on Tuesday to discuss his appeal against his 11-year prison sentence for renting out V. Aarah through MMPRC.

In response to a question from Atoll Times at the press conference, Adam Shameem, who is part of the team of lawyers, said, "The whole issue is still under study and it is a huge, arduous task. But now we are trying to file an appeal in the next couple of weeks," he said.

"The more we dig the more dirt we find. I can't say a specific date, but if God wills it, I'll see if I can file an appeal in the next week [or] a couple of weeks," Shameem said.

Shameem said Yameen was not worried about the delay in filing the appeal. Shameem said Yameen wanted his legal team to settle down and file an appeal as appropriately as possible.

Yameen is the presidential candidate of the opposition PPM-PNC coalition. However, as long as the trial court's verdict remains in force, he is barred from contesting in the elections. The deadline for filing nominations will end on August 3.

When asked whether he believed that Yameen's case would be concluded before that deadline, his senior lawyer, Dr. Mohammad Jameel Ahmed said that normally trials are prolonged in the lower court and even two to three hearings in the appellate courts can decide a case. 

"The appeal process is not longer than two or three hearings [especially] in the high court in this country. But to be very honest, we expect President Yameen to be freed by March," said Jameel, who served as the first vice president in Yameen's government. 

Jameel added that the case is expected to be decided in March only if everything goes ahead with the rules and regulations without any interference.

Here are some of the highlights of the lawyers at the press conference:

He defended the $1 million deal in which Yameen was charged, saying it was a Dollar-exchange transaction. However, Chief Criminal Court Judge Ahmed Shakeel ruled that some of the evidence presented to defend himself against the transaction was not correct and that it was an attempt to show that something that had not happened, had happened. The judgment also noted that certain gimmicks used in money laundering have been used by Yameen’s defence.

Yameen's PPM-PNC coalition did not accept the verdict. The coalition called it a "haram verdict" in which charges were framed under political influence.