A defiant Li Shengwu has come out swinging.

In a Facebook post on July 2, 2020, Li wrote a short response in the aftermath of a contempt of court hearing against him earlier in the day.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) called for Li to be fined S$15,000 over his Facebook post put up in 2017.

If Li does not pay the fine, the AGC called for two weeks' jail in lieu for non-payment.

In his Facebook post, Li wrote:

This prosecution over a private Facebook post has taken three years and thousands of pages of legal documents. The whole course of events reflects poorly on the government and its priorities.

It’s worth noting that the AGC applied to conceal parts of my defence affidavit, with the result that they were not available to the court on 2 July, and cannot be found in the public record. This behavior by the AGC is one reason why I decided not to participate in the proceedings against me.

Separately, I’d like to quote something that the law minister, K Shanmugam, said in parliament in August 2016: ““...I cannot see how putting up a Facebook post poses a real risk of prejudicing proceedings unless you are the Prime Minister with a million followers and everybody reads what you say.”

Maybe if there were more opposition MPs, the minister would speak more carefully.

Context

The quote attributed to Shanmugam stemmed from a debate in Parliament in August 2016 on a Bill codifying the contempt of court laws.

The debate sought to make clear under what scenarios was commenting on the law, as well as proceedings in court cases, going to influence, interfere or prejudice the outcome -- putting those who create such speech at risk of prosecution.

The discussion included at which point could the public comment on a trial, including the merits of the decisions and the conduct of the parties.

Those who spoke in Parliament also sought the active assurance of the law minister then that private correspondences will not be construed as as a mass publication of contempt.

Background

The AGC argued that Li was guilty of scandalising the judiciary with his Facebook post put up in 2017.

The hearing on July 2, in the midst of the 2020 General Election in Singapore, was presided over by Justice Kannan Ramesh.

Li failed to appear for cross-examination as per the court order.

Li, 35, is the eldest son of Lee Hsien Yang.

Li had no lawyer present for the proceedings.

On Jan. 22, 2020, Li posted on his Facebook page that he would no longer participate in contempt of court proceedings against him.

He discharged his lawyer Abraham Vergis and said he would not “dignify the AGC's conduct by my participation”.

Read more about the latest the AGC said here: