KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court fined the owner of Crackhouse Comedy Club RM8,000 fine for uploading insulting remarks touching on religious and racial sensitivities on several social media platform last year.
Previously, Mohammad Rizal Johan Van Geyzel was charged with three counts of the offence, in July 22 last year.
He pleaded not guilty and claimed trial at the time, and was released on RM12,000 bail.
However, he was fined with the amount today after he changed his plea to 'guilty' to one count of the offence while the remaining two counts were considered by the court under Section 171(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The 40-year-old comedy club owner changed his plea before Judge Priscilla Hemamalini Nadarajan, after Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Nurul'Ain Abu Bakar informed the court that the Attorney-General's Chamber had accepted Mohamamd Rizal's representation letter to review his charges.
Priscilla also ordered Mohammad Rizal to serve four months in jail if he fails to pay the fine, and for the court to return the case exhibits and bail to the accused.
This morning, Mohammad Rizal pleaded guilty to uploading a video on his Facebook page on July 4 last year.
In the video, he said that being born to a Malay-Turkish mother and a Dutch-Chinese father made him a Bumiputra, and that having the right amount of 'Malay' in a person is enough to get funded.
His charge was framed under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which carries a maximum one-year imprisonment or RM50,000 fine or both upon conviction.
The other two counts of offence, which was considered by the court, was the same video which was uploaded on both Instagram and Tiktok on July 6 last year. The offences were also framed under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.
During mitigation, Mohammad Rizal's lawyer M. Pravin pleaded the court to consider the accused's financial status. The accused had lost many projects after his case went viral and that he is a divorcee, who is also the sole breadwinner who look after his sick father and three kids, before the judge meted out the sentence.
He also said that Mohammad Rizal has regretted his action, and repented, after he returned home from performing Umrah recently.
However, DPP Noor Haslinda Che Seman suggested to the court to consider deciding on an appropriate sentence as a lesson for the accused and the public to not dare make sensitivities matters into a joke.