Ganja activist pleads not guilty to using obscene language

MARIJUANA activist Nazma Muller has pleaded not-guilty to using obscene language in a public place.

Muller, 46, of Trincity, made her first court appearance on Monday, three days after she was arrested outside the Parliament at the Port of Spain Waterfront while part of a small protest calling for the decriminalisation of marijuana.

Muller’s case was eventually called at 1.33 pm when the charge that on October 18, at Wrightson Road, she used obscene language to the annoyance of person on the street was read out to her by Magistrate Sarah De Silva.

She pleaded not-guilty. Muller was unrepresented but told De Silva she will be getting an attorney to represent her in the matter.

Police prosecutors told the magistrate they had two witnesses and would need three weeks to file and serve the witness statements. They were given until November 11 to do so.

Muller was also allowed to continue on the $500 bail she was granted at the Central Police Station, also on St Vincent Street, on Friday, hours after her arrest.

Muller is the head of the Caribbean Collective for Justice which has protested outside the Parliament before calling for the decriminalisation of marijuana and the freeing of those charged for small amounts of the drug.

According to reports, Muller was arrested after being approached by a police officer who told her she could not protest outside the Parliament.

She has complained of the way she was treated while Police Commissioner Gary Griffith warned that permission had to be obtained from the police to protest outside the Parliament building.