Eugene Thuraisingam

In 2017, Thuraisingam was brought to court by Lucien Wong, the Attorney-General, for allegedly scandalising the judiciary when he wrote a poem critical of the death penalty hours before the execution of drug trafficker Muhammad Ridzuan Md Ali, whom he had represented. Thuraisingam was fined S$6,000 by the court. Wong also lodged a complaint to the Law Society in relation to the same poem. A disciplinary tribunal appointed by Sundaresh Menon, the Chief Justice, held that Thuraisingam had not intended to attack the judiciary in his poem, which was found to be in contempt of court. They held that the references to judges in the poem 'is more likely to have been an authorial misstep than a deliberate assault upon judicial integrity'. Nevertheless, Thuraisingam was fined a further S$5,000 by the Law Society for penning the poem.

In 2016, Thuraisingam defended Roy Ngerng, a blogger who was sued for defamation by Lee Hsien Loong, who is the Prime Minister of Singapore. He also acted for activist and social worker Jolovan Wham and Donald Liew when they were sent letters of demand in relation to comments made by them which were allegedly defamatory of Singapore's Minister of Manpower, Mrs Josephine Teo. In 2016 and 2017, he represented The Online Citizen, an independent online media platform, in successfully protecting its right to free speech against the Singaporean government. He is now representing The Online Citizen and the Singapore Democratic Party in the Singapore Court of Appeal on the issue of whether or not the Singapore government bears the burden of proof in proving that a statement is false when it issues a correction direction under the Protection of Falsehoods and Manipulations Act (POFMA). He also acts in a constitutional law case against the Attorney-General of Singapore in the Singapore Court of Appeal challenging the constitutionality of the law in Singapore which criminalises sex between men.

Being one of Singapore's top criminal lawyers, Thuraisingam received the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Cases award from Sundaresh Menon, the Chief Justice of Singapore, in 2016 for his work in defending accused persons in death penalty cases.

Since 2014, Thuraisingam has been the personal lawyer for Jannie Chan, co-founder of The Hour Glass, in her various court cases against Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and her ex-husband, Henry Tay. He also acted for Chan's daughter, Audrey Tay, who faced charges for drug offences.

After he was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2001, Thuraisingam practised law at Allen & Gledhill for nine years and at Stamford Law Corporation for another three years before he founded the law firm, Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, in 2012.

Eugene Singarajah Thuraisingam (born June 10, 1975) is a Singaporean lawyer who founded the law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, which specialises in international arbitration and criminal and commercial litigation. He is also known for his advocacy of human rightsand for being a staunch opponent and outspoken critic of the death penalty in Singapore. As a prominent criminal lawyer in Singapore he has acted for accused persons in many high profile criminal trials.