The trouble’s piling up for opposition pol and meme generator Charles Yeo.
Days after he was hit by accusations of alleged forgery, the former Reform Party chairman was charged today with insulting a police officer and some homophobic Christians.
Charles Yeo Yao Hui, 31, faces six counts of harassing a police officer and wounding the religious feelings of Christians under the Protection from Harassment Act in a series of social media posts from over a year ago.
Yeo was accused of slinging Facebook insults in November 2020 at Christians opposed to against homosexuality. He called them “radical and dogmatic” as well as “fake” Christians who “use religion for personal gain.”
In February 2021, he made two posts on Instagram describing them as “homophobic” with a “trash agenda” who “distort the message of Christ.”
He was also accused of calling out a police officer by name in November 2020 and January 2021 posts, saying the officer was a “pathetic coward and collaborator with an authoritarian regime” and should be “tortured before execution.”
Attorneys Ashwin Ganapathy and Azri Imran Tan of IRB Law said in court that Yeo intends to dispute the charges for wounding religious feelings.
He was granted bail on a S$5,000 bond.
Yeo was arrested last week amid a forgery and criminal breach of trust investigation after four clients filed reports against the firm where he works as a criminal defense attorney, Whitefield Law Corp.
He said the charges were “entirely trumped up and false” and said that the police had acted “unprofessionally.” The police have rejected his allegations and insisted their investigation was not politically motivated.
The opposition Reform Party announced Saturday that Yeo was stepping down as chairman for now.
In the meantime, Yeo has put out his hat to crowdfund his legal bills that just got bigger today.
Yeo, who rose to public attention with his unconventional approach in the run-up to the 2020 election, is expected back in court Feb 25.
If found guilty under the Protection from Harassment Act, Yeo could be jailed for up to a year and fined up to S$5,000. He also faces up to three years and a fine if convicted of deliberately wounding the religious feelings of any person.
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