By Jim O’Toole
The Victoria County Court will sentence Queensland man and veteran Mike Holt tomorrow for publishing an article on his CIR website about the unjust trial of Phil Galea in 2020 who was jailed under terrorism laws, ‘preparing for a terrorist act and making a document likely to facilitate a terrorist act’.
Rather ubiquitous charges on the face of it seemingly that do not amount to much but somehow a jury convicted Galea.
Holt said he did not know that a suppression order had been made by the court to protect police informants.
His story about Galea was on the site for a short time and was taken down when Galea’s solicitor told Holt the judge made a suppression order preventing the publication of the informant’s identity.
After numerous attempts to file an appeal in the Victorian Supreme Court his application finally has been accepted.
Throughout the more than four-year ordeal since he was first summoned to court, Holt and his family have suffered harassment and fear of arrest and incarceration. Holt was arrested and thrown in jail for six days for refusing to turn up for his trial originally scheduled for September 2022, because he relied on Constitution S. 80 which states, “The trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and every such trial shall be held in the State where the offence was committed…”
Holt claims that his right to publish is protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 19(2), which states, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
He said the Covenant is held to Australian law but Australia’s party political judicial system had become so corrupt that magistrates and judges routinely ignore the Constitution and the laws of the land.
“They clearly believe they are above the law and they obviously think they have to power to dispense ‘justice’ as they see fit,” he said.
Holt will appear before Judge M Sexton tomorrow. The maximum penalty for breaching a suppression order is five years imprisonment.
Holt is 76 years old and has recently been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Any term of imprisonment will put his life in peril.
Despite this, Holt is not giving up on his fight to defend his right to publish, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He has filed and had accepted for a hearing, an appeal in the Supreme Court (S EAPCR 2023 0161 Holt, Michael Thomas vs DPP (Cth)).
Precedent would indicate the County Court should not continue with sentencing Holt until the higher Supreme Court hands down its decision on appeal.
Throughout his ordeal, Holt has been unrepresented. He said he cannot find a lawyer who will defend him according to Constitutional law. Instead, the only advice he has been given on approaching a number of lawyers has been to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court.
Holt said he is not prepared to do this. His case could have far-reaching implications for the future of freedom of speech and freedom of expression for all Australians.
Editor: Readers will certainly note that Holt has been arraigned in Dan Andrews’ corporate, communist regime of Victoria, Australia’s rogue state, consequently in legal terms, his charges should be dismissed as ‘ultra vires‘.
