By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dandenong South businessman accused of inciting protests during Covid lockdowns has been given no reason why his charges were suddenly withdrawn.
Jemal Abazi had been arrested and charged along with other protesters during tense anti-lockdown protests in the George Andrews Reserve and surrounding streets in August 2020.
Mr Abazi says the Office of Public Prosecutions dropped his “rubbish” charges soon after he had his case uplifted to be heard by a County Court jury in July.
“I just think they got no case,” he said.
“They don’t give you an explanation. There’s not an explanation for what they did.”
The two-year legal ordeal had cost him “thousands of dollars”, as well as “unnecessary stress”.
He says he lost count of how many times he was arrested for breaching bail.
“Anything put on you is a burden. I’ve got businesses, I’m doing well so I was able to fight them.
“The impacts are huge – the unnecessary stress it causes.
“The system is not designed for the average Joe – if you fight the system, you have to cough up the money.”
Mr Abazi said he hadn’t really considered seeking compensation. It would cost further money to fund the legal bid.
Described by police as an “event organizer”, Mr Abazi was charged with inciting others to disobey the Chief Health Officer’s stay-at-home directions.
He was also charged with breaching bail and breaching CHO directions.
His arrest in George Andrews Reserve in 2020 went viral on social media as he spoke out against the state’s stage-4 ‘stay at home’ orders.
At the time, lockdown protestors were labelled the “tin-foil hat-wearing brigade” and its “bat-s*** crazy nonsense” by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius.
Mr Abazi says he has no regrets for taking a stand for “truth and justice”.
“You uphold that because that’s what good people do in this world.”
The Office of Public Prosecutions declined to comment on why it dropped Mr Abazi’s charges.
Several anti-lockdown protesters have reportedly had their charges withdrawn in recent months.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said four charges of breaching Chief Health Officer directions remain before the courts.
Police prosecutions were “assessed in accordance with the Director of Public Prosecution’s Policy on Prosecutorial Discretion”, the spokesperson said.
“The individual circumstances for each prosecution case in Victoria are assessed to ensure that there is a reasonable prospect of conviction which is also in the public interest.”
