SINGAPORE: Amos Yee Pang Sang, who faces charges under the Enlistment Act for dodging national service obligations, appeared at the State Courts on Thursday (Apr 23) for a pre-trial conference but was not able to attend it as he did not have access.
Pre-trial conferences are administrative hearings before a case goes to trial or is fixed for a guilty plea. Usually, they are held in chambers away from the public or media and fronted by lawyers. Represented accused persons usually do not have to show up for such conferences.
“I didn’t even know that I had a lawyer so I don’t even have to attend court, I don’t even have access to the Zoom call,” Yee told the media after exiting shortly after he entered the court building.
The 27-year-old Singaporean had initially said he would not be engaging counsel.
According to court records, Yee’s new lawyer is Mr Divanan Narkunan. CNA has contacted him for more information.
Yee spoke at length to reporters after being unable to access the pre-trial conference.
Among other things, he said he would “just treat it like a business trip” if he received a prison sentence, as it was “something I have to do to ignite a political movement”.
He was also asked about his bans from dating applications and said he was trying to find a date.
“I’ve been in prison for like five years so I think it’s reasonable to try to find a date,” he said.
