PUTRAJAYA (May 23): Effective Tuesday following the enforcement of the Movement Control Order 3.0 (MCO 3.0) as announced by Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the ongoing proceedings for criminal trials in open court in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan will continue to be held but with limited attendance.

In a statement, the Federal Court said all fresh charges of criminal cases, habeas corpus cases and ongoing criminal trials will proceed as scheduled.

"For ongoing criminal hearings, no one is allowed to attend in open court except the accused and two members of his or her family, a deputy public prosecutor or the amount allowed by the court, and a lawyer or lawyers allowed by the court.

"Witnesses in criminal trials are required to abide by the requirements of social distancing with only two witnesses present in the witness holding room. All case management cases for criminal cases are hereby postponed," the court said in a statement today.

It added all scheduled sentencing of cases during the MCO 3.0 and any subsequent criminal orders are hereby postponed.

Criminal appeals held at the High Court nationwide, Court of Appeal and Federal Court in Putrajaya are now supposed to be held online effective Tuesday.

Meanwhile, civil cases' proceedings are also to be done online based on the directive issued by the Chief Justice No 1, 2021, dated Jan 7, 2021.

It added that if the Enhanced Movement Control Order is enforced in the affected places by the government where there are courts, then ongoing criminal proceedings would be postponed, while civil proceedings would continue via the e-review system.