Despite the defense’s previous applications to postpone the trial of an Israeli man’s firearms case to appoint a Hebrew interpreter, the trial has been confirmed to proceed in English.
The defendant Avidan’s defense lawyer, Wong Beng Hong, told Magistrate Mohamad Zaki that if a qualified interpreter is available, his client agrees to conduct the trial in English.
He said during the case management session at Kajang Prison Court Center on Friday (February 14): "We have discussed with the defendant, and he said that if there is a qualified interpreter and can communicate with him, he is willing to proceed in English."
“The lead counsel of this case, Dato' Naran Singh, has exited the case. We have reviewed the files regarding the application for a Hebrew interpreter, but we have not received the latest instructions from Naran."
In view of this, the judge has rescheduled a 14-day trial, which will be held at the Kajang Prison Court Center. The trial dates are set from March 19 to 21, May 13 to 16, June 3 to 5, and June 23 to 26.
Earlier, Deputy Prosecutor Mohamad Mustapha questioned the defense’s previous applications to postpone the trial due to the lack of a Hebrew interpreter, yet now they are willing to proceed in English.
He said, "Naran previously applied for a trial postponement to resolve the interpreter issue, and the High Court has set February 28 to hear the postponement application. The prosecution wants to know if the defense will continue with this application?"
Mohamad Zaki instructed all parties to inform the presiding court of any decision made by the High Court on this matter.
"Since the issue of postponement and interpreters has been brought to the High Court, we shall wait until February 28 and then issue further instructions."
“When we get to the High Court, we do not know which lawyer will appear, whether it will be Wong (the lawyer) or someone else?”
On January 13 this year, the judge who previously heard the case, Norlina, approved the postponement of the trial and vacated the selected trial dates because the defense raised the issue of a Hebrew interpreter.
According to the first amended charge, the 39-year-old Avidan was in possession of a box containing eight 9mm Shell Shock NAS3 bullets, three boxes of 150 Bullet Master Co Ltd bullets, and 42 bullets inside three firearms, without a firearms license or permit, violating Section 8(a) of the 1960 Firearms Act, which upon conviction can be punished with imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or a fine not exceeding RM10,000, or both.
The second amended charge alleges that the defendant sold six firearms, namely, a Glock 19 USA 9×19 pistol, a Sig Sauer P3205P pistol, a Cougar 8000FT semi-automatic pistol, a Glock 17 Gen4 Austria 9×19 pistol, an M&P 9C Smith & Wesson Springfield MA USA semi-automatic pistol, and a Stoeger Cougar 8000F semi-automatic pistol.
He is charged under Section 7(1) of the Enhanced Punishments for Firearms Act of 1971, which upon conviction, can be punished with imprisonment not less than 30 years but not more than 40 years, and whipping not less than 6 strokes.
He is accused of committing the offense between 6:46 p.m. on March 26 and 6:00 p.m. on March 28 at a hotel room in Jalan Ampang.