treason

The Fiji Treason trial file…

(Note: most recent stories first)

Coverage of the treason trials following the 2000 George Speight coup

Fiji Times March 30, 2003

By Michael Field

Twenty-four hours before arrest at Kalabo School Joe Nata was on the telephone to a reporter from a leading Indian daily delivering a torrent of sexually explicit invitations to her.

Strutting around Mussolini-like Nata, pumped up on the aphrodisiacal qualities of imagined power, he thought the world was his.

His delusion was complete last week when he and Timoci Silatolu stood in a bare wooden dock to hear their treason convictions.

No family, no girlfriends, no partners and no admiring supporters were there. At most there were 34 people in court: 10 of them policemen. Not one of them was an associate of the two accused; the visionaries of The Cause stood abandoned.

George Speight’s seizure of Parliament on 19 May 2000 was a putsch of smoke and mirrors and so ambiguous it is still hard to say whether it even succeeded.

If the idea was to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, then clearly it was a success.

Speight’s cause is now enshrined in the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase but there has been no credible evidence linking the government to the coup. If the coup succeeded, why then is Speight sitting on Nukulau, rejoined soon by Nata and Silatolu?

Something of a picture of what really happened emerges when looking at the evidence of the treason trial and the other smaller trials, hearings and court martials

There is a crucial limitation: courts dispense justice and do not seek truth. Justice and truth are not the same thing. A central theme does, however, seem to exist: there was no grand conspiracy around May 19 and no higher purpose. It was all just grubby ambition by stupid, amoral men. They knew how to push the “race” button in Fiji -- but then any halfwit could do that -- and in the execution of the coup, their incompetence was startling.

Questions remain though: was Speight the master of the coup? What was the real motive for the coup? How much did others know of the event? How high up in military did the coup go?

From a variety of statements and evidence given in open court proceedings, a rough sketch of what happened emerges.

Chaudhry had won the elections on 19 May 1999, becoming the first ethnic Indian leader of Fiji. Lost in the later events was the scale of the win; he came to power on a landslide. Rumours of coups quickly rose, mostly from the election losers and there were protest marches under the always-vague Taukei banner. Chaudhry asked then Police Commissioner Isikia Savua about the rumours: “I was advised there was no threat to the government,” he said later in evidence.

Given what we know now Mr Savua were either remarkably inept as a policeman, or he was frugal with the truth.

A minor figure in the coup, Viliame Savu, said Speight and his brother Jim often addressed meetings before the coup. Failed businessman Iliesa Duvuloco hosted the meetings at his 8 Mitchell Street rented home. He had a whale’s tooth ready to present to President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara when they arrived to ask for his resignation.

Jone Vidi was at the meetings: “They wanted to destroy Suva by fire, but I told them it was better to stage a coup,” he told a court.

“George told us the weapons from the military was confirmed, he showed us the paper and someone had written that the weapons were set, it required us to pick them up.”

Other evidence showed the Biggles-like nature of the coup with black sports bags carry guns, boats and black nights.

The plotters discussed the taking over of townships and police stations. Another court heard that the plotters had planned to dynamite Parliament and the Westpac and ANZ banks in central Suva, as well as issue petrol bombs to Fijian youths to attack shops and to dock workers to sink ships.

None of the evidence has revealed why all this destruction was to occur: if you are aiming to take over the state why destroy the infrastructure?

Duvuloco applied for a march permit that was granted: prosecution statements in the treason trial said the march and the Speight assault were the same operation.

“I was asked to kidnap the president, but I told George I couldn’t because he is my chief,” Jone Vidi was to later tell a court of the last Mitchell Street meeting on the eve of the coup.

“George told us that, after the coup, our families would receive a salary for life and we would be responsible for internal security.”

Speight and Nata carried cellphones constantly but as any B-grade liquor store robber could have told the great minds of the Fiji coup, digital phones leave a track.

The day before the coup, for example, the records show the phone owned by Speight phoned Ratu Josefa Seniloli phone. Perhaps somebody else used the phone and somebody else answered it; the conversation is unknown. Ratu Josefa swore in Speight’s government. Its there on another piece of ubiquitous incriminating evidence: videotape.

From around 3am on May 19, Speight, Nata and Silatolu’s mobile phones were in constant action.

“This was a night in which nobody slept,” prosecutor Peter Ridgeway put it.

Of key consideration were the numerous calls between Speight and Duvuloco as the coup and the march were coordinated.

The last call from Speight before the 10.45am coup was to Silatolu, sitting in Parliament. Said Ridgeway: “was this a call of brotherly love? No…. This last call must have been the check call, the green light, the go sign.”

Ever since that moment there has been speculation that there was a “Mr Big” behind it all, with Mr Savua held to be the primary candidate.

Mr Chaudhry told of the tense scenes as Speight paced the floor after the coup: “It seemed to me they were waiting for some one to arrive.”

MP Leo Smith told a court that as he lay trussed up on the floor of Parliament, gunmen said he would be surprised by the man who was to come and brief them all. Speight was there: “He was frantically trying to reach someone on the mobile telephone, he appeared frustrated because he was not getting a response.”

We know now who he was calling: Duvuloco. It scarcely seems possible but a man so lightly attached to his intellect could be Mr Big.

Mr Chaudhry had given police a list of 20 names but in court neither the prosecutor nor the defence sought to get those names. It is instructive to compare this responsibility behind withholding the names -- presumably until the evidence is in -- against the attitude of the Nata defence with their witness Salesi Tuifagalele. Without a shred of accompanying evidence nor a plausible motive offered, he said two leading Indo Fijian businessmen funded the coup. He named them.

Perhaps the only way to get to the truth would be a full scale commission of inquiry headed by a High Court judge with full powers of subpoena and terms of reference aimed at stripping away the rumour and innuendo. We might all still be surprised about Speight and May 19.

The intriguing question then would be why, after the crisis was over and the hostages freed, was the Labour Party not allowed to resume their freely elected office? Was it, in reality, that there had been two coups in 2000: the idiotic Speight one on May 19, followed by another on May 29 when the military declared martial law?

Ends

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Pacific Magazine, Honolulu February 2003

What Really Happened in Fiji’s 2000 Coup?

In Fiji Courts Uncovers A Mystery Person Behind The Coup

By Michael Field

It’s nearly three years since a shaven-headed part-Fijian named George Speight burst onto the world stage proclaiming, “this is a civil coup!”

His seizure of the Fiji Parliament on 19 May 2000 was a putsch of smoke and mirrors and so ambiguous it is hard to say whether it even succeeded.

If the idea was to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, then clearly it was a success. Chaudhry is now wandering in the political wilderness, too bound in his own ego and hurt to ever make it back as leader. The cause espoused by Speight is now enshrined in the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

Speight is a convicted traitor on Nukulau island, like Napoleon on Elba, perhaps, but mostly forgotten.

Through the murk it is impossible to say what the 2000 coup really was about: Speight may have been its leader, but even that fact is probably not the case. Others remain unaccounted for and may one day try again. A handful of Fiji court cases offer only hints of what the coup might have been about and who was behind it.

Unanswered are these questions: was Speight the master of the coup? What was the real motive for the coup? How much did others know of the event?

Material for this story is based on court testimony and evidence from the Justice Andrew Wilson’s High Court treason trial of politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata. Material also comes from the Justice Anthony Gates’ High Court trial of Viliame Savu, who was convicted of misprision of treason. Material also came from the Military Court Martial of 15 members of the “Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit” on mutiny charges. Some material also came from proceedings surrounding George Speight who, on February 18, 2002, was convicted of treason<\#209>a sentence pronounced by Justice Michael Scott, who said to him: “George Speight, the sentence of the court upon you is that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution and that you there suffer death by hanging and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.” Within hours his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Fiji’s court proceedings take place in the splendid Government Buildings, a concrete and stone colonial relic that has been allowed to run down under the heavy traffic of petty criminals, lawyers, reporters, judges and casual observers. The Fiji justice system has mostly failed in the business of revealing truth and dispensing justice. An air of cover-up taints the coup trials.

High Court No 1 is a cold and uncomfortable place with many ghosts. Back on 14 May 1987, it was Parliament’s debating chamber and there, at 10 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka strode in with armed men and said “Please stay calm ladies and gentlemen. Stay calm.” Education Minister Tupeni Baba shouted

“What kind of joke is this?” That was the first of Fiji’s three coups and Baba was to be in an almost identical situation in the 2000 coup in a new Parliament.

Number 1 court was the scene of another farce when, in 2001, the then-Chief Justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga held a secret inquiry into the behaviour of Police Commissioner Isikia Savua. Under Savua’s leadership Suva had burned on 19 May 2000 and the democratically-elected government was seized. Either Savua was monumentally inept or he was complicit. Tuivaga, who had written the military’s martial law decrees that scrapped the constitution, listened to evidence in secret and cleared the man. Savua was rewarded for losing Suva by being named Fiji’s United Nations ambassador and Tuivaga was Fiji’s nominee for a judgeship at the International Criminal Court.

From a variety of statements and evidence given in the few 2002 open court proceedings, a rough sketch of what happened in May 2000 emerges.

Chaudhry had won the elections on 19 May 1999, becoming the first ethnic Indian leader of Fiji. Lost in the later events was the scale of the win; he Came to power on a landslide, including the votes of indigenous Fijians, who decisively tossed the Rabuka Government out. Chaudhry’s socialist style government moved quickly in key economic areas, aiming to ease the rampant poverty building in the country. He closed down the intelligence service. He irritated people with an abrasive presidential style, and the rank nepotism of having his son appointed his private secretary.

Rumours of coups grew after Chaudhry’s election, as did indigenous protest marches. Chaudhry asked Savua about the rumours: “I was advised there was no threat to the government,” he later said.

A minor figure in the coup, Viliame Savu, revealed that a series of meetings were held in the weeks before the coup, often addressed by Speight and his brother Jim. A representative of Rabuka’s Soqosoqo Vakavulewa ni Taukei party attended too.

The meetings were held in the Mitchell Place home of failed businessman Iliesa Duvuloco (the house is now vacant and next door to the SDL headquarters). Duvoloco had a whale’s tooth ready to present to President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara when they arrived to ask for his resignation.

Jone Vidi was at the meetings: “They wanted to destroy Suva by fire, but I told them it was better to stage a coup,” he told the court.

The mutineers had a supply of petrol and washing soap to make firebombs.

“George told us the weapons from the military was confirmed, he showed us the paper and someone had written that the weapons were set, it required us to pick them up.”

They discussed the taking over of townships and police stations.

Another court heard that the plotters had planned to dynamite Parliament and the Westpac and ANZ banks in central Suva, as well as issue petrol bombs to Fijian youths to attack shops and to dock workers to sink ships.

Savua claimed the Speight brothers did not say how the coup would be staged, only to confirm “everything was set.”

Savua’s inability to police the May 19 riot takes on a different complexion when linked to court evidence that the march was part of the coup plot and the Mitchell Place meetings resolved to apply for a march permit. Duvoloco, now in in detention on minor-coup related offences, was the front man for the march.

They all met one last time on May 18 and early the next day, at 2 a.m., they picked up their weapons at the army’s Queen Elizabeth Barracks.

“I was asked to kidnap the president, but I told George I couldn’t because he is my chief,” said Vidi, who is from Lau, Mara’s home fiefdom. They waited for 14 soldiers from the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit (CRW) who were to cut off all phone lines, electricity and destroy Fiji TV.

“George told us that, after the coup, our families would receive a salary for life and we would be responsible for internal security.'”

One of the pieces of evidence against Speight was the complex web of mobile phone calls. Fiji’s Vodafone keeps a record of all phone calls made. They even keep the actual texts of all text messages sent on phones.

Journalist Jo Nata, who worked with Speight through the coup, was revealed by the records to have phoned his girlfriend at 4 a.m. on the day of the coup.

One of the key players with Speight in Parliament was CRW founder Ilisoni Ligairi, a former NCO with Britain’s Special Air Services. He was to later claim, through his lawyer, that he did not know a coup was taking place, but when he discovered his men were involved in it he decided to join them to protect them from harm. In his case, Justice John Scott thought that his story had no credibility.

In the minutes prior to the assault on Parliament, Speight was on the phone to Duvuloco and to Timoci Silatolu, a backbench MP in Chaudhry’s coalition government. Sitatolu was sitting in the assembly as he whispered into his phone.

Speight was to name him prime minister, a post he kept for less than a day.

During later investigations, documents were found in a briefcase belonging to lawyer Rakuita Vakalalabure. On the day of the coup he had joined Speight and was filmed emotionally accepting his swearing in as Speight’s justice minister. Curiously, he not only was never charged, he is now the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament he was part of sacking.

Chaudhry has only once given evidence in court on what happened, and in the style of Fiji courts, little was made of his evidence. He told of Speight’s arrival and then the tense scenes as Speight paced the floor: “It seemed to me they were waiting for some one to arrive.”

Chaudhry had given police a list of 20 names but neither the prosecutor nor the defence sought to get those names, nor was the name of the person Speight believed was on the way to Parliament ever adduced in court. It was as if prosecution and defence agreed among themselves to hide this little truth, if that is what it was.

There was a meeting soon after the seizure. Leo Smith says among those involved was Speight’s father, prominent businessman Sam Speight, Vakalalabure, the general manager of the Native Land Trust Board, Maika Qarikau and the sacked head of the now-closed Fiji Intelligence Service, Metuisela Mua.

Sainimili Cavuilati was usually the bodyguard of Vir Mati, Chaudhry’s wife, but on the day of the coup she had a day off. With the town being looted, she reported to police headquarters and claims she was told to infiltrate the coup plotter’s “operation center.” She did and met Vakalalabure there.

“I introduced myself to Rakuita and he said ‘good, good, we need support from police since we’ve got support from the military,’” Cavuilati said in court.

The coup plotters had prepared some decrees for the new government. Among them was one in which Lieutenant Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini was named the new army chief of staff. We don’t know if he agreed to his appointment. Later, on May 29 when the military declared martial law he became military spokesman, and an internationally recognised figure. He has now run away from Fiji and lives in New York beyond the reach of the military who failed to charge him with any crime when they had the chance, but who now seem to want to. His name keeps reoccurring in evidence in court cases

At Parliament, the politicians were divided into ethnic Fijians and Indian groups and began what turned into an eight-week hostage nightmare. Rabuka appeared on the second day, said Chaudhry.

“He said he was there to say hello to us and to see how we were doing. He then left.”

That was May 19. Speight was to hold Chaudhry and his government hostage for a total of 56 days. And Chaudhry never returned as prime minister.

What was it all about? Who was really involved?

We still don’t know.

The Coup’s First Moments

When George Speight and his fellow thugs invaded Fiji’s Parliament, the moment was recorded.

The official record or Hansard emerged when its reporter, Serei Moucavu,produced it at the Jo Nata-Timoci Silatolu treason trial.

She first noted the arrival of “strangers” in Parliament, commenting in evidence that the use of the term was Hansard style for anybody who should not be on the floor of the assembly.

The transcript notes that Parliament opened at 10:40 a.m. May 19. Absent members were recorded, along with the minutes of the previous session and the tabling of documents.

Deputy Prime Minister Tipeni Baba was speaking when Hansard takes up the story, noting in brackets: “At this point (10:45 a.m.) several heavily-armed strangers (one wearing balaclava) stormed into the Chambers and jumped over the Bar shouting: “Sit down, sit still and remain calm!”)

As the Hansard reports:

MR. SPEAKER.- (Standing up) What is this?

STRANGER NO. 1.- This is a civil coup. Hold tight, nobody move!

MR. SPEAKER. - Yes?

STRANGER NO. 1.- This is a civil coup by the people, the taukei people and

we ask you to please retire to your hamber right now, Mr. Speaker. Please

co-operate so nobody will get hurt.”

STRANGER NO. 2.- Tose ike; o iko toso mai ike! (Move here; you, move here!)

(Speaking to the other strangers) Dua me toso mai ike. Dua me tu mai kea.

Totolo! (One to move here, one to stand over there. Quickly!)

STRANGER NO. 1. - Hold your seats.

STRANGER NO. 2.- Dabe! Dabe I keri! (Sit! Sit there!)

MR. SPEAKER.- (Still standing) Na cava: what is this?

STRANGER NO. 1. - This is a civil coup, with arms and ammunition, by the

people and for the people. Please just tell them not to get up!

MR. SPEAKER.- It is an illegal act, you know that!

STRANGER NO. 1. - Mr Speaker, please, we do not want anybody to get hurt.

Please do not make things difficult for us or I will be forced to use this

(brandishing a gun). Would the Members of the Opposition leave the Chamber

with the Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER. - (Still standing, and pointing a finger at Stranger No. 1) If

you have to shoot anyone in this House, you shoot me first!

HON. RATU I. KUBUABOLA (opposition leader).- (Still seated) No, we will not

leave without our Speaker!

(At this point, Stranger No. 2, fires two shots towards the ceiling of the

Chamber)

(Mr. Speaker leaves the Chamber with the Leader of the Opposition and

Opposition Members. All the doors to the Chamber are immediately closed and

guarded by the armed strangers. Government Members and six Parliamentary

staff remaining in the Chamber)

“The House was unceremoniously adjourned at 10.55 a.m.,” the Hansard records.

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Leading pro-Speight politician arrested in Fiji as judge convicts two traitors

By Michael Field

SUVA, March 21 2003 - A leading Fiji member of Parliament was Friday arrested and charged with felony offences carrying life imprisonment sentences linked to the 2000 coup.

Deputy Speaker Rakuita Vakalalabure appeared in Suva Magistrate’s Court facing two counts of taking an unlawful oath to commit a capital offence. The charge carries a life imprisonment sentence.

Vakalalabure was remanded on bail of 10,000 Fiji (5,000 US) dollars and his passport surrendered. No plea was taken.

A short time later in the nearby High Court Justice Andrew Wilson convicted two coup principals, journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu, of treason.

The arrest comes amidst signs of growing tension here with what one foreign diplomat described as the military holding a “pocket coup” last weekend when, according to media reports, military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama threatened the government he would take over again if coup leader George Speight, now serving a life sentence for treason, was pardoned and a directive was given to ease up on other arrests.

On May 19, 2000, Speight led a group of special forces soldiers into parliament to seize the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the Pacific nation’s first ethnic Indian premier. He and his government was held hostage for 56 days, during which Bainimarama declared martial law, deposing then President Kamisese Mara, and later installed Laisenia Qarase as interim leader.

Media video evidence produced in the Nata-Silatolu treason trial showed that on May 20 Speight had a new government sworn in by chief Jopi Seniloli, who is now the vice-president. The ceremony was supervised by Nata and Silatolu was sworn in as prime minister.

Vakalalabure was sworn in as justice minister and he wept and punched the air as he did it.

He now leads the Conservative Alliance (CA) which aims to pardon Speight, who briefly was a member of parliament for the right-wing indigenous group. CA provides crucial coalition support to Qarase’s ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party which holds 31 of the 71 parliamentary seats and governs with the help of the CA’s six seats.

In the High Court Justice Wilson told the court that although the assessors had expressed the opinion Thursday that Nata and Silatolu were guilty of treason he was not required to accept the advise.

“I entirely agree with the unanimous opinion of the assessors over each of the accused,” the judge said as he formally entered convictions.

He said there was strong circumstantial evidence against the two men, particularly the cellphone call records.

“Each of the accused in a real sense convicted himself,” the judge said, adding “the case had all the hallmarks of a classic case of treason.”

Of Chaudhry the judge said he was “an extraordinarily courageous citizen of Fiji”.

Documents including coup press statements were found in Nata’s home, the judge said, and told the court “these documents might be seen as the tools in trade of the traitor”.

When Speight was convicted of treason last year he was sentenced to death although this was quickly commuted to life imprisonment. Parliament soon after changed the law to abolish the death sentence, but Justice Wilson told the court that parliament may have been in contravention of the constitution by retrospectively changing a penalty in cases of alleged offences already laid.

He was unable to sentence the two men until the legal issues were resolved and this might take the Supreme Court which is Fiji’s constitutional court.

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Assessors find two coup leaders guilty of treason; judge still to rule

SUVA, March 20 - A five person assessor panel Thursday found two principal characters in the Fiji’s 2000 coup guilty of treason.

High Court Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia does not have to accept the opinions of the assessors and told the court he will announce his judgment at 3pm Friday (0300 GMT).

Journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu were senior figures in the George Speight led coup which bought down the country’s first Indian led government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The assessors were each asked twice how they found each defendant, and each ruled guilty to the questions.

Justice Wilson will also hand down a sentence amidst confusion whether the death penalty still exists for treason here. Speight was sentenced to death in January last year for treason but it was promptly reduced to life imprisonment.

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Fiji treason jury locked-up amidst report military threatening to re-establish control

By Michael Field

SUVA, March 19 - A jury hearing Fiji’s protracted treason trial was Wednesday ordered locked-up for the night after they were unable to reach a verdict in a case involving two principal characters in the Pacific nation’s 2000 coup.

Journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu are before the High Court each facing a treason charge linked to the George Speight led coup which bought down the country’s first Indian led government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Coincidently there are growing high level tensions with Fiji Television reporting Wednesday night that the military here was threatening to re-assert political control after the government began moves to pardon Speight, serving a life sentence for treason on an island near here.

It said last Saturday military chief Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama went to Government House and pointedly reminded President Josefa Iloilo that it was the military who put him in office in the first place.

Following Speight’s coup in May 2000 Bainimarama declared martial law and for months was the effective leader of the country after forcing the then president Kamisese Mara to step down. The military then installed an interim government led by Laisenia Qarase who later won democratic elections. Qarase’s government works in coalition with the pro-Speight Conservative Alliance which wants him pardoned from his life sentence now being served following his treason conviction.

Fiji Television, quoting unnamed sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, said this issue, and pressure from the government to relax charges faced by soldiers involved in the coup and a mutiny later in 2000, were creating new tensions.

It said last Saturday Iloilo and the vice-president Jopi Seniloli were at Government House drafting decrees related to Speight. Seniloli was involved in the coup and was named by Speight as president, but he has not so far been charged with any offence. Fiji Television said when Bainimarama heard of the meeting he and others went to Government House and reminded the two men of the role the military had played in 2000.

A Fiji Military Forces spokesman confirmed the commander had gone to Government House Saturday but declined to give details: “the commander visited the president but what was discussed has not been disclosed,” the spokesman said.

He confirmed court martials of dozens of soldiers said to be involved in the coup and mutiny would go ahead.

In the High Court Australian Justice Andrew Wilson earlier Wednesday concluded nearly three days of his summing up directed at the equivalent of a jury here, a five person panel of assessors. They do not have to reached an agreed verdict and will deliver individually an opinion of either guilty or not guilty before Justice Wilson makes his final decision.

The case has become extraordinarily protracted. The two, along with Speight and others, were arrested on July 26, 2000, and while Speight pleaded guilty on February 18 last year Nata and Silatolu refused to plea bargain and instead pleaded not guilty. Their trial has faltered on ever since, reaching its latest climax Wednesday when Justice Wilson sent out the assessors.

“As citizens of Fiji you have a very important task to perform and I ask you now to perform it,” he told the three men and two women. All other details of their characters, including race, a prohibited from publication here.

They left the court just before 3pm (0300 GMT) and soon after asked for a whiteboard and a table.

An hour later they asked for Justice Wilson’s summing up notes but he told the court that this was an “unusual request” which he would not meet, asking instead that if they had particular questions to direct them to him on those issues.

At 5.30pm (0530 GMT) the assessors sent word that they could not deliver an opinion Wednesday and instead wanted a meal.

The court directed they be taken to an unspecified place for the night under guard.

“They will be locked up overnight,” he said.

The court was technically not adjourned but the judge left the bench and will return at 8.30am Thursday (2030 Wednesday GMT).

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Fiji-treason

Fiji treason verdict delayed another day

SUVA, March 18 2003 - Fiji’s protracted treason trial was facing another delay Tuesday with High Court Justice Andrew Wilson warning he was not likely to send assessors out to reach a verdict until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest.

Before Justice Wilson and five assessors, three men and two women, were journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu each facing a treason charge linked to the May 19, 2000, coup led by George Speight which bought down the country’s first Indian led government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The judge devoted most of Tuesday to a detailed exploration of the meaning of circumstantial evidence and reviewed some of the media interviews given by the accused traitors during the crisis.

He noted that in several interviews Nata kept referring to “we” and “us”, a link between the accused the coup which, Justice Wilson said, was a traitorous event.

Toward the end of the day Wilson said “some time has got away from me” and wanted the trial would again run longer than previously expected.

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Nature turns on exclamation points for treason judge’s dramatic summing up

SUVA, March 17 2003 - Nature provided exclamation points in a Fiji High Court treason trial here Monday as Australian Justice Andrew Wilson began final summing up to peals of thunder at key moments.

It got so pointed he had the transcription service note for the record the various interjections from the heavens and stressed that he did not believe they were a comment or otherwise on the guilt or innocence of the two accused traitors.

The hearing of evidence was completed last week and Justice Wilson said he expected to send the assessors away Wednesday, warning that they may be locked up until they come up with a verdict.

Much of Justice Wilson’s summing up was dense and legalistic, reviewing the history of treason, first defined in English law in 1351. He said it was the only case of treason tried in the South Pacific.

Justice Wilson said that he felt he might be expected to apologise for the nature of the summing up but said he would not to so: “If it is tedious and heavy going, then so be it…. It is my job to explain the law to you, it is your job to understand it.”

The single joint charge contains seven overt acts but in a small victory for the accused, Justice Wilson directed the assessors to ignore the seventh overt act, saying it was merely a summary of the other six.

In a severe rebuke of Silatolu’s lawyer, Sevuloui Valenitabua, Justice Wilson said he had got points of law wrong in his submission. Valenitabua had told the court that the assessors had to find each overt act proved beyond reasonable doubt to find his client guilty of treason. Justice Wilson said this was not so, and pointed out that in treason only one of the overt acts had to be proven for the accused to be found guilty of treason.

Justice Wilson discussed the concept of “levying war on the state”, at one point saying that a particular judgment contained “very important words” and as he spoke heavy thunderclaps hit the court.

“The trial judge is distracted,” Justice Wilson said for the record, “I hope not too much, by peels of thunder”.

Discussing whether an attack on parliament and seizing a prime minister was a crime, he said that in English law at least “that would constitute treason” and this time thunder and a clock bell joined in.

At this Justice Wilson: “I don’t think there is anything very dramatic about what I said.”

He identified key moments of drama in the court, noting Chaudhry evidence, particularly the moment during the hostage drama when gunmen had taken him out on the lawn at a point of a gun and threatened to kill him. Chaudhry had been asked what he felt at that moment and Justice Wilson read out his reply: “Well sir, I was quite composed. I had a choice as the nation’s prime minister; to give into the thugs and terrorists or to stand my ground and uphold democracy.”

Under the assessor system the five do not have to reach a joint verdict, although they try for that. Once back in court each assessor is polled for a verdict and the verdict, either unanimous or majority, is then considered by the judge, but he is not bound by it.

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Fiji’s coup by mobile phone turns into trial by cellular records

By Michael Field

SUVA, March 10 2003 - The hearing of evidence in Fiji’s protracted treason trial finally ended Monday with much of the material turning on the mundane listings of telephone records which reveal the planning and plotters involved in the Pacific nation‘s 2000 coup.

Fiji’s digital Vodafone service has, according to prosecutor Peter Ridgway, provided “footprints in the sand” and a “countdown to a coup” which may ultimately convict two currently in the dock with more to follow.

In the Fiji High Court before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson was journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu each facing a treason charge linked to the May 19, 2000, coup led by George Speight which bought down the country’s first Indian led government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The defence and prosecution completed their final summing up Monday in what Justice Wilson called a “milestone”. He adjourned the court until Friday when he will begin his lengthy summary to the five assessors with a verdict expected the middle of the following week.

Ridgway’s last part of his summary revolved around the Vodafone records, which he called “very telling evidence” revealing the plotting and those involved.

Even at the time of the coup it was readily apparent that it was an uprising by cellphone and while it made all the characters immediately accessible to each other -- Speight in particular who spent much of his time using one -- it also provided a detailed outline of the chain of command and who was involved.

In court Monday Ridgway drew the face of a clock and from it filled in through the night proceeding the coup and the morning of it, where the phone calls had gone from and to whom, and who long they lasted.

The day before the coup the phone records showed Speight telephoned a high chief, Josefa Seniloli.

Ridgway said the importance of calls made before became apparent when one realised what happened after the coup. Seniloli, the day after the coup, was proclaimed president and swore in the Speight government.

He escaped any charges and is now Fiji’s vice-president.

Speight also telephone the day before the coup a former finance minister and millionaire businessman, Jim Ah Koy. Other than the fact of the call, no explanation was given in court.

Speight and Nata claimed not to have known each other before the coup occurred, but Ridgway’s illustration of the phone records showed just before 3am on the morning of the coup, Speight telephoned Silatolu several times, Silatolu phoned Nata and at around 4am Speight phoned Nata.

“This was a night in which nobody slept,” Ridgway told the court.

Speight also made numerous phone calls to a failed politician, Iliesa Duvuloco, who, was to lead a protest march through Suva at the same time that Speight was to mount his coup, leading a group of special forces soldiers into Parliament.

Just minutes before the coup, as Speight and the soldiers were driving toward Parliament, Speight was on the phone to Silatolu who was a member of parliament in Chaudhry’s coalition government and was sitting in the house at the time.

Said Ridgway: “was this a call of brotherly love? No…. This last call must have been the check call, the green light, the go sign.”

Speight’s first three calls straight after the coup at 10.45am were to Duvuloco, at the head of the march which was to set fire to downtown Suva.

The prosecution contended that the records showed that the coup and the march were the horns of a common bull: “What it shows is that these two events were so interrelated, so locked together, you cannot separate them.”

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State prosecutor cites Fiji vice-president and key politicians in coup

By Michael Field

SUVA, March 7 2003 - A Fiji state prosecutor in High Court Friday made pointed references to the nation’s vice-president and several leading politicians who he said were involved in the treason behind the May 2000 coup which ended the country’s first Indian led government.

Australian Peter Ridgway was summing up in the treason trial of journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu have been on trial for treason before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson here.

Law enforcement sources outside court told AFP a new set of high profile arrests was imminent.

Now convicted traitor George Speight led a group of special forces soldiers into Parliament on May 19, 2000, seizing then Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and eventually holding him and his government hostage for 58 days. During that time the military declared martial law and later installed a civilian government. Chaudhry never returned to office.

The handful of arrests since then have prompted numerous questions from Chaudhry over what he saw as a cover-up of other more significant people in the coup.

Speaking in court Ridgway named Speight and Silatolu and the current deputy speaker of parliament, Rakuita Vakalalabure, as “these three men acting in a common pursuit“ at the head of the coup.

Vakalalabure, who leads the Conservative Alliance party formed to campaign to get Speight pardoned, has never been charged with any offence. His party provides key coalition support for the Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase’s government.

Ridgway said the day after the coup Nata played a key role in swearing in the illegal government, and Ridgway stressed that this was sworn by an illegally declared president, Josefa Seniloli, who is now vice-president and who has never been charged for his role in the coup.

Ridgway also cited several other key figures, still uncharged, for their roles. These included veteran one-time Foreign Minister Bernardo Vunibobo and the then leader of the opposition, Inoke Kubuabola, who is now Fiji’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.

Vunibobo, he said, had attended meetings after the coup and advised Speight and his group that they should tell the United Nations of the “new regime” in place and that the seat in the world body should go to them.

Documents seized later from Nata’s home showed that Vunibobo was to be the new foreign minister and Kubuabola the telecommunications minister.

Kubuabola worked with Nata to draft the decrees, the court was told.

In court he made no reference to any charges against the men and referred to them instead as “the cohort of losers” as they had all lost seats in parliament in earlier elections and were engaged in trying to remove a democratically elected government.

During the hearing of evidence a defence witness, former special forces solider Salesi Tuifagalele who had immunity from prosecution, caused a sensation by claiming under oath that Speight, before the coup, had told them that the coup had the financial backing of two leading Indian companies, C J Patel and Punjas.

On Friday Ridgway told the five assessors that Tuifagalele’s evidence was not credible, particularly the reference to the companies: “That is the kind of thing Speight would say to convince greedy, ignorant, stupid people to fall into the plot, don’t believe it.”

In court the significance of the naming of various politicians were not explained, however a law enforcement source outside court said it was a “clear warning.

“We are awaiting the outcome of this trial and more arrests will follow.”

The move will not necessarily directly destabilise the Qarase Government but could wreck its coalition partner. It may force the government to call a snap election ahead another date in court, in June when Chaudhry’s Fiji Labour Party goes to the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the government itself.

A public opinion poll this week showed Qarase retaining support among Fijian voters while the pro-Speight camp was losing support.

Justice Wilson was to have begun summing up by now and it was expected a verdict would come by Tuesday.

However it is not now expected until March 17 at the earliest, and Justice Wilson suppressed from publication the reasons for the delay.

All counsel agreed with the reason.

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Fiji coup plotter “drunk with power” says lawyer in treason trial

SUVA, March 6 2003 - One of two men accused of treason in Fiji was drunk with power when he helped now convicted traitor George Speight seize power in a coup in 2000, state prosecutor Peter Ridgway told a High Court trial here Thursday.

Journalist Jo Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu have been on trial for treason over events linked to the May 2000 coup led by Speight, now serving a life sentence after he last year pleaded guilty to treason.

Closing submissions are being held this week before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson.

Speaking to the five assessors Silatolu’s lawyer Sevuloui Valenitabua said his client had been under duress and only agreed to be sworn in as Speight’s prime minister in a bid to free hostages.

Speight led a group of special forces soldiers into Parliament on May 19, 2000, seizing then country’s first Indian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and eventually holding him and his government hostage for 58 days. During that time the military declared martial law and later installed a civilian government. Chaudhry never returned to office.

Valenitabua said one piece of evidence that Silatolu did not plot the coup was the fact that took his five year old daughter to school, near parliament, the morning the coup was to take place.

“A very important question: would a person do that knowing what was to happen?”

Silatolu was frightened of Speight.

“George Speight had immense power and he could do what he wanted,” Valenitabua said.

He urged assessors to look at the body language of his client in video of the seizure of parliament.

Ridgway fired several broadsides at Valenitabua claiming the closing submission had been “reckless rot” in that it made repeated mistakes over what witnesses had said.

He said there was no doubt that Silatolu was involved right form the beginning, and at Speight’s first press conference, just after the violent seizure of parliament, Silatolu was cocky and arrogant.

“The man was drunk with the power he had just taken,” Ridgway said.

He said the videos showed Silatolu had willingly been sworn into office and had signed decrees. He had made speeches proclaiming his power.

“Does this man sound like a blushing bride being dragged to the alter?”

Ridgway also referred to the role played in the coup to the current deputy speaker of parliament, Rakuita Vakalalabure.

He said Vakalalabure was as “much a part of the Speight group as these two (Nata and Silatolu)” and there was clear evidence he concurred with what happened.

The court adjourned for the day at that point.

The failure of the authorities to take any action against Vakalalabure has been the matter of fierce debate here. He has not been charged with anything although the videos presented in court show him as a leading player in the coup. He sits in parliament representing Conservative Alliance, a party which aims to have Speight freed. The government is currently dependent on that party to remain in power.

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Fiji coup journalist made wrong decisions under extreme conditions but not treason; court told

By Michael Field

ATTENTION - RECASTS with afternoon submissions ///

SUVA, March 5 2003 - A journalist accused of treason over Fiji’s coup was guilty of making some wrong decisions in an extremely hostile environment but he was not a traitor, the High Court here was told Wednesday.

Journalist Jo Nata was trying only to fore fill traditional obligations to free one of his traditional chiefs being held hostage when he found himself dealing with “mad men with guns”, including coup leader George Speight.

Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu have been on trial for treason over events linked to the May 2000 coup led by Speight, now serving a life sentence after he last year pleaded guilty to treason.

In court Wednesday, as closing submissions began before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson, Canadian legal aid lawyer Alexander Wolf told the five assessors that “there are lots of reasonable doubts in this case…

“This is an extremely serious offence… some might call it a capital offence…. The prosecution must make sure the evidence is good enough.”

Wolf said the evidence was not good enough because the police did not do their jobs; sometimes they were lazy and sometimes they did not have the resources.

He said they ended up charging his client with “the wrong crime’”.

On the day of the coup pro-nationalists marchers also rioted, looting much of downtown Suva while the police took no action.

It prompted questions over the role in the coup of then Police Commissioner Isikia Savua. A secret inquiry into his role was held and it cleared him.

But the re-start of the treason trial here coincided with growing concern over the possible disappearance of a key file on Savua. Savua last week took up a new post at Fiji’s ambassador to the United Nations and at the same police here said they were re-opening inquiries into Savua’s role.

The Fiji Times reported Wednesday that the Director of Public Prosecutions Office was now searching for the key inquiry file which they could not find.

Numerous requests had gone to President Josefa Iloilo but that had been futile.

The newspaper said the police do not know where the file has gone either.

In court Wednesday Wolf said his client Nata had no role in the planning of the Speight coup, and when it occurred it first heard about it on the radio.

He said he went to Parliament as Speight was holding his hostages in a bid to free one of the politicians, Koila Nailatikau, the daughter of the then president, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. As well as being the political leader of the nation, Mara was his traditional chief.

Nata believed he had a deal with Speight to help swear in a new government in return for freeing Nailatikau.

He realised as it did it that he was committing a criminal offence, that of making false oaths. After doing it he left parliament and went home, “because he had done something wrong. He knew he was in some sort of trouble because it was being televised.”

When Speight did not release Nailatikau he realised he had “been done in”.

Wolf said Nata was not the media spokesman for Speight and said that his client was only guilty of meeting “traditional obligations” in an atmosphere of “chaos and mayhem” in which Speight was using violence and guns to intimidate.

There was duress on Nata with Wolf referring to Speight and others as “mad men with guns”.

“It was an environment in which people did not make perfect decisions.”

Much evidence that could have been produced in court was not, Wolf said, adding the police and prosecution “couldn’t get the big businessmen” who speculation suggested might be behind the coup.

Wolf recounted the evidence of Chaudhry who had told the court that on the day Speight and special forces soldiers attacked Parliament, Nata was not present.

He suggested that Nata was there as the government was taken hostage only to help control the situation in a situation where “a madman with a gun”, Speight, was in control.

Wolf said Nata had been “gutsy” in resisting some of Speight’s orders.

The biggest part of Wolf’s submission was devoted to police evidence over the alleged seizure of incriminating files said to have been found in Nata’s home.

Wolf said the police were unable to recall where exactly the files had been found and the placement of key exhibits. No pictures or sketches were taken and the police in evidence admitted to a good deal of confusion. Nata himself denied the files were his.

“it’s a capital offence, the most serious in the country…. The police officer’s evidence is anything but clear….

“You cannot use the documents against him, they were not his.”

Wolf’s submissions were continuing.

Justice Wilson has said he aims to bring down a verdict on March 11.

Under Fiji’s system on the day of the verdict each assessor will be polled individually for a guilty or not guilty verdict before the judge delivers the final verdict which does not necessarily have to concur with the assessors.

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Fiji’s coup continuing to haunt Pacific nation as treason trial heads to conclusion

By Michael Field

SUVA, March 4 2003 - A drawn out treason trial will reach its climax here later this week as Fiji coup plotter and convicted traitor George Speight hints from his prison island that he may be ready to do a deal for freedom by offering names in return for his freedom.

But the coup in 2000, in which Speight overthrew the government of the first Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, continues to haunt the Pacific Island nation, even tainting its deep rugby union passion after New Zealand refused visas for a travelling side, claiming several members had been involved in the unrest.

The treason trial resumes Wednesday in the High Court, a converted from the original parliament and the scene in 1987 of military strongman Sitiveni Rabuka’s first coup. Politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata each face a single charge of treason with each charge containing seven “over acts”.

The details are similar to those that Speight early last year pleaded guilty to and was sentenced to death, which was shortly after commuted to life imprisonment.

They alleged that between May 19, 2000 and July 27, 2000, conspired to overthrow the government of Fiji, used unlawful force to do so and thus “did commit treason”.

On the first day of the coup Silatolu was sworn in as interim prime minister while Nata acted as spokesman for Speight during the 56 days his group of special forces soldiers held Chaudhry and his government as hostages.

When the Nata-Silatolu trial opened last November there were hints that the names behind the coup would be revealed, but at no point has there been strong evidence of a wider conspiracy.

Australian Justice Andrew Wilson and a six person panel of assessors will hear closing argument this week from the defence and the prosecution. The assessors advise the judge on their view, but the judge alone decides the verdict.

When Speight was on trial their was only one sentence available for treason; death by hanging. Although it was not carried out the government quickly changed the law to prevent such a sentence being passed again. However it has already been hinted in court that Parliament failed to properly change the law: if convicted Nata and Silatolu may join the ritual imposed on Speight with the judge pulling a black silk cloth onto his wig and passing a death sentence.

Speight and a handful of others are still detained on Nukulau island, just east of here, where they are held in increasingly comfortable conditions. First accommodated in tents behind barbed wire, they are now in permanent buildings with a chef to feed them, access to the beach and regular cellphone contact.

Speight supporters have been calling for a pardon and immediate release and now there are hints he wants a deal for a reduced sentence in exchange for information.

Opposition Leader Mick Beddoes said he would support it if it lead to the unmasking of the real people behind the coup.

“If George Speight wants to reconcile with the people has done damage to and if he wants us to show mercy then he had better do the right thing by telling the truth,” Beddoes said.

A rugby side from Naitasiri, Speight’s home district, missed their flight to Auckland Monday night after New Zealand refused to grant visas to its patron, the district paramount chief Inoke Takiveikata, and manager, former MP Pecili Rinakama.

The two men are on a New Zealand “blacklist” because of their alleged involvement in the 2000 coup.

Takiveikata is facing charges of inciting mutiny.

The team is expected to leave later Tuesday for New Zealand without its top two after appeals by the Fiji Prime Minister‘s Office to Foreign Minister Phil Goff failed to result in a lifting of the visa ban.

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Key treason witness names Fiji companies and police chief in Speight coup plot

SUVA, Feb 19 2003 - An insider in Fiji’s 2000 coup Wednesday drew angry denials to his court room claims that two of the country’s leading companies and its police chief were involved in the overthrow of the government.

The witness also claimed that coup leader and now imprisoned traitor George Speight had told fellow plotters that he had discussed the coup, before it occurred, with Police Commissioner Isikia Savua who has just taken up the post of Fiji‘s ambassador to the United Nations.

Speight and a group of special forces soldiers seized parliament on May 19, 2000 -- taking Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government hostage for 56 days. Ten days after the seizure the military declared martial law and later installed an interim government led by Laisenia Qarase, who remains prime minister following democratic elections.

Speight was later arrested and convicted of treason. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Two Speight associates, Joe Nata and Timoci Silatolu, are on High Court trial for treason before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson.

A former special forces soldier, Salesi Tuifagalele, who has immunity from prosecution in return for providing information, appeared as a defence witness for Nata Tuesday.

He said before the coup he took part in a meeting on May 18 at the home of one Iliesa Duvuloco where they were promised secure jobs by Speight and assured of financial backing from C J Patel and Punjas, two leading Indian companies here.

Tuifagalele said when he asked Speight what would happen if they were caught, he was told that Speight had already spoken to the Police Commissioner. Speight also told his conspirators that the coup has also been discussed ahead of its execution with Prison Commissioner Aisea Taoka

He also revealed that the coup was to have taken place on April 28, three weeks earlier than it did.

Tuifagalele said he and another man were on that date to have picked up explosives from Duvuloco’s farm.

"When we reached the farm no one was at home so we came back.

"The purpose of the dynamite was to make bombs and the target were Westpac and ANZ.''

Duvuloco organised an anti-Chaudhry protest march through Suva on May 19 that was a cover for Speight’s attack on parliament. The protest march ended up ransacking much of Suva’s central business area.

Duvuloco was Monday released from Nukulau Island where he had served a year of an 18-month sentence on coup related charges.

C J Patel director Ashok Desai, in a statement outside court Wednesday, said the claim his company funded Speight was an “absolute lie”.

"We don't support this kinds of action and we categorically deny this,'' he said.

"We are a reputable company with 70 years of existence.''

In a statement Wednesday Nitin Punja, managing director of Punjas, denied the claims.

“We have not financed nor supported anyone associated with the May 2000 coup. In fact we had no dealing with George Speight at anytime.”

Savua was enroute to New York to take up his new posting.

Rumours of his involvement in the coup, based on the police failure to control the rioting on the day of the coup and their inability to protect the government, led to an in camera inquiry into his role.

Now retired Chief Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga eventually cleared Savua of involvement but none of the evidence on which he reached his conclusion has been released.

Taoka said the witness’ claims were false.

"This is news to me,” he said.

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Hostage MP reveals coup plotters told them a real leader was to come

SUVA, Dec 10 2002 - Politicians held at gunpoint here on May 19, 2000 by gunmen were told they would be “surprised” by the man who was coming to brief them, a High Court treason trial was told here Tuesday.

The trial follows the coup by now convicted traitor George Speight who overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. He led a group of special forces soldiers to seize Parliament on May 19.

“Prior to that, he (Speight) was frantically trying to reach someone on the mobile telephone, he appeared frustrated because he was not getting a response,’’ former MP Leo Smith told the court.

Smith was handcuffed and told to lie on the floor with all the government members said Speight was using a mobile telephone.

Speight began his own meetings when he failed to reach whoever he was trying to contact.

Politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata are jointly facing a charge of treason before Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia, while another man, Viliame Savu is before Justice Anthony Gates in a nearby court facing a misprision of treason charge.

Smith was invited to a meeting immediately after Indian members had been separated from their Fijian colleagues that involved Speight, Silatolu and members of the Fijian Association Party – Tu’uakitau Cokanauto, Eroni Tuisowau, Viliame Volavola and Antonio Tanaburenasau.

Smith said all refused a position in Speight’s government.

Cokanauto asked Speight how he intended to run his civilian government.

“He (Speight) said he was okay because he had the support of the military. He said it was important a Home Affairs minister be appointed immediately informing us that Rakuita (current deputy speaker and lawyer, Rakuuita Vakalalabure) had been appointed,’’ Smith said.

Smith further named current Lands minister, Naiqama Lalabalavu, Silatolu, Nata, Speight, Speight’s father Sam, jailed businessman Iliesa Duvuloco, coup security chief Ilisoni Ligairi, lawyer Niko Bukarau and two Native Land Trust Board executives including its general manager then Maika Qarikau.

Smith and another state witness, Methodist church priest, Maikeli Vosaki, both identified former Fiji intelligence unit chief, Metuisela Mua, as a participant.

Chaudhry who had said the unit was duplicating work done by the police special branch unit disbanded Mua’s intelligence cell late 1999 leaving Mua jobless.

Vosaki who was part of a 13-day negotiation session between the coup perpetrators and the army for the Muanikau Accord, a document that contained the demands of Speight’s people, told the court Mua, Nata and Speight were the main negotiators.

Secretary-General to Parliament Mary Chapman told the court of the “complete destruction” caused by Speight’s group

“It was if they were looking for something,’’ Chapman said.

She estimated total damage at 900, 000 Fiji (450,000 US) dollars; this included reference books stolen from the parliament library and the missing decorative tapa cloth draped from the parliamentary chamber ceilings.

Meanwhile, prosecution and defence lawyers in the Savu trial made final submissions Tuesday morning before Justice Gates.

mr/

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Israeli gift blamed for Fiji coup

SUVA, Dec 2 2002 - An Israeli arms gift gave Fiji’s coup plotters a military edge over the rest of the army and the police, a treason trial was told here Monday.

The claim came in prosecution evidence from army Captain Jotame Misivono at the High Court where Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia is hearing treason charges against politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata. The charges arise from the 2000 coup led by now jailed traitor George Speight who with army special force soldiers seized parliament and the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

They were held for eight weeks and after their release they returned the military arms which Misivono helped supervise the return of.

He told the court an Israeli ambassador had brought the arms into Fiji, supplying sophisticated machine guns to the special forces unit involved.

“Those are Israeli-made weapons (uzzi submachine guns) brought into the country and given to the unit by an Israeli ambassador while he was still in Fiji,’’ he said.

He said the weapons, which included Uzis, gave the special forces an edge over the rest of the uniformed services in Fiji.

In other evidence a former government printer, Pio Bosco Tikoisuva, said Speight threatened him to print decrees.

“He said if I don’t authorize the printing of their decrees then we’d (Speight and his people) go down to the printery and force the staff to print them,” he said.

“I said I would authorize the printing because I feared for my staff.”

Amongst decrees tendered in court was one that purported to change the command line of the Fiji Military Forces, decreeing that the army spokesman then, Filipo Tarakinikini, be the new army chief of staff.

Tarakinikini over a year ago was posted to the United Nations in New York and following the completion of his term refused to come home.

He is understood to have claimed refugee status in the United States.

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Fiji treason transcripts priced in the stratosphere

SUVA, Nov 29 2002 - Australian aid provided transcriptions of Fiji’s high profile treason trial were Friday being turned into a money spinning operation for the High Court Registry.

An Australian company, Auscript, is providing full tape and written transcripts of the case against politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata are in the dock each facing a single treason charge, containing seven overt acts. They have pleaded not guilty and are before Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia sitting in the Fiji High Court.

Auscript has previously covered major trials in Samoa and Papua New Guinea with the media provided with transcripts on disk, and in the case of Samoa, via a freely available webpage.

Justice Wilson, on an application from AFP, ruled in court Wednesday morning that the transcripts should be made available to the media at one dollar (50 US cents) a page.

The opening day session runs to 46 pages and the Thursday session which featured deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, is 65 pages long.

The High Court registry now advises that while the service is funded by Australia, it will cost reporters five dollars a page, as a “photocopying fee”.

The large font pages are attracting no media customers given that they are likely to cost 325 dollars a day.

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“Shoot me first” says Fiji speaker as parliament seized by gunmen

By Michael Field

SUVA, Nov 29 2002 - A treason trial here heard Friday dramatic evidence of the moments around the seizure in 2000 of the Fiji parliament by armed coup plotters.

In it the Speaker of Parliament, Apenisa Kurisaqila, is recorded as pointing angrily at gunmen who had invaded the chamber and say “you shoot me first!”

Politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata are in the dock each facing a single treason charge, containing seven overt acts. They have pleaded not guilty and are before Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia sitting in the Fiji High Court.

The charges relate to a coup led by George Speight in which he and special forces soldiers invaded parliament, seizing the country’s first Indian born Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and holding him and his government hostage for eight weeks.

Unknown until this case was the fact that the official record of parliament, Hansard, had recorded, both on tape and in shorthand note, what was taking place.

Hansard reporter Serei Moucavu produced the document which notes that parliament opened at 10.40am May 19. Absent members were noted, along with the minutes of the previous session and the tabling of documents.

Deputy Prime Minister Tipeni Baba was speaking when Hansard takes up the story, noting in brackets: “At this point (10.45am) several heavily armed strangers (one wearing balaclava) stormed into the Chambers and jumped over the Bar shouting: “Sit down, sit still and remain calm!”)

As Hansard reports:

MR. SPEAKER.- (Standing up) What is this?

STRANGER NO. 1.- This is a civil coup. Hold tight, nobody move!”

MR. SPEAKER. - Yes?

STRANGER NO. 1.- This is a civil coup by the people, the taukei people and we ask you to please retire to your Chamber right now, Mr. Speaker. Please co-operate so nobody will get hurt.”

STRANGER NO. 2.- Tose ike; o iko toso mai ike! (Move here; you, move here!) (Speaking to the other strangers) Dua me toso mai ike. Dua me tu mai kea. Totolo! (One to move here, one to stand over there. Quickly!)

STRANGER NO. 1. - Hold your seats.

STRANGER NO. 2.- Dabe! Dabe I keri! (Sit! Sit there!)

MR. SPEAKER.- (Still standing) Na cava: what is this?

STRANGER NO. 1. - This is a civil coup, with arms and ammunition, by the people and for the people. Please just tell them not to get up!”

MR. SPEAKER.- It is an illegal act, you know that!

STRANGER NO. 1. - Mr Speaker, please, we do not want anybody to get hurt. Please do not make things difficult for us or I will be forced to use this (brandishing a gun). Would the Members of the Opposition leave the Chamber with the Speaker.”

MR. SPEAKER. - (Still standing, and pointing a finger at Stranger No. 1) If you have to shoot anyone in this House, you shoot me first!

HON. RATU I. KUBUABOLA (opposition leader).- (Still seated) No, we will not leave without our Speaker!

(At this point, Stranger No. 2, fires two shots towards the ceiling of the Chamber)

(Mr. Speaker leaves the Chamber with the Leader of the Opposition and Opposition Members. All the doors to the Chamber are immediately closed and guarded by the armed strangers. Government Members and six Parliamentary staff remaining in the Chamber)

“The House was unceremoniously adjourned at 10.55 am,” the Hansard records.

The witness Moucavu was not asked in court to identify the strangers but other evidence points to No 1 being Speight.

Moucavu was kept as a hostage in parliament for two days before, she said, Silotolu came and told her she could go.

Speaker Apenisa Kurisaqila died of natural causes a year later. His son, Wilisoni Kurisiqila, is assisting prosecutor in the treason trial.

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Drama but no names as Fiji’s deposed prime minister takes treason trial witness stand

By Michael Field

ATTENTION - RECASTS, ADDS afternoon session ///

SUVA, Nov 28 2002 - Deposed Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry came to High Court Thursday apparently willing to reveal names behind the coup which bought him down only to find none of the counsel involved asked him what they were.

One counsel got as close to referring to a “list of 20 names” only to have her unusual court room procedure bought to an abrupt halt.

It was the first time Chaudhry gave sworn and legally protected evidence surround the events of the May 19, 2000 coup which was nominally led by failed businessman George Speight and a group of special forces soldiers.

He was speaking at the trial of politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata, accused of treason over the events. They pleaded not guilty and a full open trial is being held. Speight pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced without trial, so no evidence was given.

Chaudhry, a veteran politician and Fiji's first Indian prime minister, delivered his evidence in the Fiji High Court in a slow, clear but dramatic voice, at one point speaking of the abuse he suffered during the eight weeks he was held by the coup plotters.

"The idea was to break me, but they couldn't do it," he said.

While some of his account of beatings and abuse were new it has long been claimed that the real coup plotters were people other than Speight.

With this offering the only opportunity to name names Chaudhry appeared to be prepared to do so.

Soon after the Speight gang arrived Silatolu joined them on Speight’s invitation, Chaudhry said. The two were in consultation, walking up and down and talking.

"It seemed to me they were waiting for some one to arrive," Chaudhry told the court. The comment was not followed up by Australian prosecutor Peter Ridgway but was teased out in cross examination by one of Nata‘s counsel, Prem Narayan.

She produced Chaudhry’s initial statement to the police which, she said, contained “20 names” and she asked him whether Nata’s name was on the list.

This bought an immediate objection from Ridgway who said the statement had not been adduced as evidence-in-chief and could not be used in such a fashion.

The judge agreed and the issue was left to lapse and Narayan’s cross-examination involved getting Chaudhry to agree that her client, Nata, had not been involved in the acts of violence on him.

Earlier Chaudhry said a group of armed men, led by Speight, had entered and seized parliament at about 11:45 am on May 19, 2000.

The gunmen had divided the members of parliament along ethnic lines, with ethnic Fijians and Indians put in different rooms.

The former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who led his own two coups in 1987, "appeared", said Chaudhry.

"He said he was there to say hello to us and to see how we were doing. He then left." Rabuka made further visits later in the day and the next day.

Chaudhry said in the afternoon of May 19 he saw Nata, the journalist, working with media personnel and using offices taken by Speight.

On the night of May 20 the MPs he was with were taken upstairs one by one, until he was nearly alone.

"The guard who was there suddenly disappeared...," Chaudhry said. Youths came in and he was dragged outside and assaulted and kicked leaving him badly hurt.

Speight arrived and told the youths to stop and Chaudhry was dragged back into his room and given medical treatment by one of the MPs who was also a doctor.

Chaudhry said on May 22 he was eating lunch and was suddenly grabbed from behind by a man known as "Commander" who pointed a gun to his head and took him outside.

The man said that they had heard that Rabuka was coming to free the hostages and they were going to use them as human shields.

"I was quite composed," Chaudhry told the court.

"I had a choice as the nation's prime minister to either give into these terrorists or stand my ground. I choose to stand my ground and uphold democracy."

He said he had been tortured, his religious beliefs abused and threatened with death.

"I stood up to these things because I have deep faith in my religion and my God. The idea was to break me but they couldn't do it," Chaudhry said.

Under cross-examination by Sevuloni Valenitabua, for Silatolu, Chaudhry agreed their had been rumours of coups in the weeks before but the Police Commissioner Isikia Savua, had briefed cabinet saying it was safe: “I was advised there was no threat to the government.”

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Unfinished business keeps returning as Fiji has another go at a treason trial

By Michael Field

SUVA, Nov 24 2002 - Legal authorities will have another attempt this week at getting a long manipulated treason trial underway which promises to reveal big names behind a coup two years ago that ended Indian-political rule here.

Due to face a trial before Australian Justice Andrew Wilson in the Fiji High Court are journalist Joe Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu who each face a single charge of treason containing seven overt acts linked to the May 19, 2000 coup nominally led by George Speight and a group of special forces soldiers.

Last February Speight did a deal in which he pleaded guilty to treason, was sentenced to death and had it commuted immediately to life imprisonment. He is still on Nukulau Island near here. His plea, and a similar guilty deal by 10 others on lesser charges, ensured no evidence was ever presented in court.

Nata, who acted as Speight’s spin doctor, and Silatolu, who was sworn in by Speight as prime minister, refused to deal and are facing a trial in which the star witnesses is expected to be deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Its not for nothing local wags call Fiji the land time forgot but Justice Wilson’s obvious irritation is now driving it to trial.

He is experienced in the Pacific and in Samoa four years ago he sentenced two cabinet ministers to death for the assassination of a third minister. They were not executed and are now common sights around Apia, but unlike Fiji, Samoa’s political establishment was keen to get the truth out and the trial over.

Earlier this month a Fiji military court martial finally produced a verdict after a year of often adjourned proceedings. A group of soldiers were convicted of mutiny and lesser offences following a military uprising in November 2000. Their leader was given a life sentence.

Prominent names were mentioned as being behind the mutiny, and by implication, the coup six months earlier but nothing has been done about investigating them.

As it is the current government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase , initially installed by the military and then the narrow victor in democratic elections last year, is facing pressure as a result of a severely ailing economy. In a post-Bali bombing mode tourism is booming for the moment but the real economic driver, the sugar industry, which produces about 50 percent of the nation’s wealth, is collapsing as indigenous land owners take back land used by Indian growers.

Faced with a growing deficit the government budget increased value added tax from 10 percent to 12.5 percent.

On Saturday trade unionists in the western sugar city of Lautoka attempted to stage a protest march at the increase but police, who refused a permit, broke the march up, hinting at the still raw tensions here.

Chaudhry, who is secretary of the National Farmers Union, Saturday called for farmers to prepare for bigger sacrifices in the face of the “bloodsucking budget”.

Against this backdrop the treason trial could appear to offer an academic law school exercise. The on-again-off-again adjournments, appeals and petitions have dealt with whether treason can be a crime in a republic while Silatolu has grown exercised over his constitutional rights to the same number of state funded lawyers Nata has.

The only evidence offered in open court at any stage in the whole treason trial business came on May 29 last year when the prosecution told a court the coup plotters were traitors who planned to blow up banks, sink ships and seize the country’s president.

When the treason business first started the Government Buildings was surrounded by police and armed soldiers and entry required special passes. These days the security has disappeared in the face of familiarity and a public cynicism that anything much will happen.

Justice Wilson twill open proceedings in a court room that up until 1987 was Fiji’s Parliament debating chamber. It was in that same room that a military strongman, Sitiveni Rabuka, staged the first coup.

These days it is better known for its fierce air-conditioning and its celebrity for show cases that never quite get underway.

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Accused traitors plead not guilty to Fiji treason charges as trial finally starts

By Michael Field

SUVA, Nov 26 2002 - Two prominent men linked to Fiji’s 2000 coup pleaded not guilty in the Fiji High Court here Tuesday to a charge of treason.

The fact that the two were arraigned and pleaded was a major milestone in a case now well over a year old that has been marred but numerous defence bids to prevent a trial happening at all.

Deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry is expected to be the star witness later in the week in the only open court hearing into the events surrounding failed businessman George Speight’s May 19, 2000 coup in which he and special forces soldiers seized parliament and took the government hostage for eight weeks.

Politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata stood in the dock as Justice Andrew Wilson of Australia read the charge to them. The each face a single charge of treason with each charge containing seven “over acts”.

After it was read Silatolu was asked to plea and he replied ”not guilty to treason” and was followed by Nata who said “not guilty my lord”.

The charge and overt act were similar to those that Speight early this year pleaded guilty to and was sentenced to death, which was shortly after commuted to life imprisonment.

The charge alleges that Silatolu and Nata between May 19, 2000 and July 27, 2000, conspired to overthrow the government of Fiji, used unlawful force to do so and thus “did commit treason”.

The prosecution has to prove beyond reasonable doubt any one of the seven overt acts which included allegations that with Speight the accused seized Parliament, formed an illegal government, swore in members of that government, published decrees and breached their duty of allegiance to the state.

In a feature of this trial that has become standard as the information was being put the prosecution interrupted it to say the judge had the wrong dated document, promoting Silatolu’s lawyer, Sevuloni Valenitabua, to seek an immediate adjournment as the prosecution was not ready.

Justice Wilson began the proceedings clearly determined to get the much delayed trial underway.

However Valenitabua has lunched a new bid to appeal aspects of earlier pre-trial rulings to the Court of Appeal which was due to sit later Tuesday.

Canadian lawyer Alexander Wolf, for Nata, also applied to have it delayed until next Monday.

Prosecutor Peter Ridgway of Australia angrily dismissed the applications and told the judge: “I am ready to start this trial, I am willing to start this trial…. I want to get on with it.”

Justice Wilson plainly agreed and dismissed the applications for delay.

Wolf also protested to the court that his client, who is in custody with Speight on Nukulau Island, has not been allowed to view 18 videotapes that the prosecution wants to submit in evidence. He claimed his client’s constitutional rights had been breached. Justice Wilson said his client had had 10 weeks to make an application for a court order and he dismissed the application by Wolf.

Legal sources say the tapes are of the numerous press conferences Speight called while he held Parliament. Nata was a prominent figure in them.

Silatolu is also allegedly in the tapes at several points, including being sworn in as prime minister.

Valenitabua’s new bid for delay saw him argue that there was confusion over what the sentence for treason now was.

When Speight was convicted it was death by hanging but Parliament has amended the Criminal Code to bring in a life sentence. However it appears that Parliament has not done this retrospectively and the charge was laid while it was still a capital offence.

Valenitabua said he wanted to take that question to a higher court: “We do not want an unknown penalty hanging above (Silatolu’s) head.”

Justice Wilson dismissed that bid, saying the issue was “on the back burner” and would only arise if there were any verdicts and verdicts of a particular kind.

Seven assessors were then sworn in. Justice Wilson suppressed all details of the assessors.

Unlike juries their verdicts are not final and amount only to advise to the judge on what to do.

The trial is expected to last six weeks with the prosecution likely to Wednesday make its opening statement and Chaudhry in the witness box Thursday.

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Fiji treason trial hits snag as defence lawyer bails out over evidence linking him to coup

By Michael Field

SUVA, July 22 2002 - Fiji’s notoriously slow legal system came to a grinding halt again Monday just as the High Court here opened a treason trial against two men accused over events related to the 2000 coup.

Expected to provide a sensational platform for deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry Tuesday it instead has been adjourned for what maybe weeks as one of the defence lawyers suddenly quit the case, leaving his client undefended.

One time journalist Joe Nata and politician Timoci Silatolu each face a single charge of treason containing seven overt acts ranging from unlawful seizure of the prime minister and his cabinet through to intent to overthrow a lawful government.

They all relate to the coup fronted by convicted traitor George Speight who on May 19, 2000, accompanied a group of special forces soldiers into Parliament and seized Chaudhry. They were held hostage for 56 days, during which time the military declared martial law and never allowed Chaudhry backing office.

Speight, after a similar stop start trial, was eventually found guilty of treason and is serving a life sentence.

During the first stages of the coup, in events to eventually be tested in court, Silatolu was named prime minister in Speight’s new government. Nata was also involved but argues he w

Its understood these show he was to have been named attorney-general in Speight’s government.

Justice Wilson told the court the trial could not proceed with Silatolu unrepresented.

“A charge of treason requires legal aid, legal assistance,” he told the court.

He accepted the now open ended delay was a big set back for Fiji.

“This is a black day, or I should say, a grey day.”

Nata has a lawyer, Prem Narayan, paid for by the state funded legal aid office, but Silatolu has been refused legal aid three times.

Prosecutor Gerard McCoy argued that Justice Wilson should direct the office to provide a lawyer, but an office volunteer, Canadian lawyer Alex Wolf said it would take several weeks to process the issue.

Justice Wilson, acknowledging the “despair and alarm” the development had produced in the prosecution, said he would be taking a much tighter rein on the process and was aiming to get the trial underway as soon as possible.

McCoy told the court that at this stage he would produce 45 witnesses but with mature counsel for the defence and a willingness to accept some of the facts, the witness list and the duration could be considerably shortened.

But so far they were having to prove everything.

“I am in the bizarre situation of having to prove that the two accused are ethnic Fijians,” he told the court.

He said if the defence was insisting strict proof of every fact, he could do it.

“We are not going away….

“The significant events of the coup can hardly be in dispute. If I have to methodical and systematic to prove them, then I will.”

Justice Wilson adjourned the trial to Wednesday when a pre-trial hearing would be held to review the legal aid process.

The timetable outline suggests that the trial proper will now resume in the middle of next month: when just across the road Fiji will be hosting the 16-nation Pacific Forum summit.

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Fiji's treason trial last judicial attempt to find truth behind 2000 coup

By Michael Field

SUVA, July 21 2002 - Two accused traitors go on trial here Monday offering Fiji its last chance for the judicial process to uncover the truth behind a shadowy coup two years ago.

They all relate to the coup fronted by convicted traitor George Speight who on May 19, 2000, accompanied a group of special forces soldiers into Parliament and seized the country's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. They were held hostage for 56 days, during which time the military declared martial law and never allowed Chaudhry backing office.

Nata is defending himself on the novel basis that he was only Speight's spin-doctor while Silatolu, who was sitting on the opposition benches the morning Speight marched in has rejected any plea bargain deals.

Speight languishes on Nukulau Island east of here, serving a life-sentence for treason after initially being sentenced to death.

In a country of over 830,000 people, 51 percent indigenous Fijian and 44 percent Indian, race was the easy motive behind the coup, but not the only one. The coup represented a tussle between rival Fijian clans for power and, its been wildly claimed, a grab for Fiji's lucrative mahogany plantations.

Even the real leader of the coup is something of a mystery; Speight's mobile telephone records, believe to show various links, have not so far been presented in court. Speight pleaded guilty, cutting off any revelations.

Australian High Court justice Andrew Wilson will hear the case. In preliminary hearings New Zealand and Hong Kong Queens Counsel Gerard McCoy has revealed they expect a much shorter trial than the one originally intended for Speight. They will bring to court a hand-writing expert should the two accused deny signing certain documents which purported to legitimise the Taukei Civilian Government - as the coup perpetrators' called their regime.

Nata and Silatolu also claim they should not be released because of an immunity decree signed between the coup plotters and martial law head, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, under which the hostages were released.

Justice Wilson has already buried that approach saying Bainimarama had no authority to sign such a deal under the constitution.

Nata, who shows all the signs of becoming a "bush lawyer" or expert amateur, has also tried claiming that since Fiji was a republic, treason no longer existed as a crime.

Justice Wilson said treason was alive: "It is one of a robust species."

He agreed treason by English law included acts against the king or sovereign of England.

"However, it does not follow that an essential element of the crime of treason is the existence of allegiance to the crown.

"Treason is an offence against the king or against the government and I think it may be committed by any person or persons whether allegiance is owed or not."

The crime is among the most ancient on any nation's law books -- and the most serious.

Speight was sentenced to death, and due to a technicality in drafting the repeal of the death sentence, Nata and Silatolu can still receive such a sentence if found guilty. They are most unlikely to be hanged.

The ultimate defence of treason is one defined by an English jurist in 1618: "Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason" or viewed in another legal maxim of unknown providence "treason is a crime invented by the victors as an excuse for hanging the losers".

There is some argument that while the wider coup succeeded -- that was the one to bring down Chaudhry -- and so Speight should not be locked up, no such support exists for Nata and Silatolu. Fiji seems to have largely forgotten them and when they appear in the Fiji High Court Monday, in the room that was the scene of Fiji's first 1987 coup led by Sitevini Rabuka, it will just be another case in a crowded legal calendar.

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Two treason accused plead not guilty to Fiji’s coup plot

SUVA, June 4 2002 - Politically troubled Fiji will finally witness a treason trial after two major players during the May 2000 pleaded not guilty in the High Court here Tuesday.

The trial is likely to offer the only really independent insight into events which saw convicted traitor George Speight and special forces soldiers seize parliament and hold the government of prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage for 56 days.

Although Speight was convicted of treason and others in his gang pleaded guilty to lesser charges, but former reporter Joe Nata, who acted as Speight's spin doctor through the coup, and a member of parliament, Timoci Silatolu, who Speight named as prime minister, refused any deal and Tuesday pleaded notnot guilty.

Australian High Court justice Andrew Wilson has adjourned the case to next Wednesday for a pre-trial hearing where parties are expected to thrash out issues including the selection of assessors and names of witnesses.

Prosecutions presented an amended format of the charges which now sees the alleged overt acts of treason reduced from 13 to seven ranging from unlawful seizure of the prime minister then and his cabinet with intent to overthrow a lawful Government, legislating an unlawful regime and unlawfully fomenting support for the unlawful regime.

New Zealand and Hong Kong Queens Counsel Gerard McCoy, the chief treason prosecutor, told the court prosecutions was now more “focused’’ in its approach to the case with the streamlining of charges.

Justice Wilson rejected the defence teams’ request for four days to consult with their clients on the amended charges.

McCoy told the court the amendments have decreased the number of witnesses they initially intended to introduce in court and he was yet to confirm procedures to be followed to allow him to subpoena MPs.

There are also plans, McCoy told the court, to bring in a hand-writing expert should the two accused deny signing certain documents which purported to legitimise the Taukei Civilian Government - as the coup perpetrators’ called their regime.

Nata and Silatolu are the only two from the 15 men incarcerated on Nukulau Island to challenge the charges of treason. They believe they were covered by an immunity decree from the army commander Frank Bainimarama and that the charge of treason was unconstitutional – both claims were dismissed by Justice Wilson last Friday.

Justice Wilson is yet to confirm a date for the trial proper. McCoy has requested mid-July or the first week of August as the officer-in-charge of the trial investigations and the deputy public prosecutions would be out of the country from mid-June.

Outlining his proposed case against the accused when trial begins, McCoy said the question of whether the weapons were provided for the rebels or not was now completely out of their case.

McCoy informed the court of his intentions to provide copies of documents from Speight to Nata, found in Nata’s Suva apartment to show there was agreement between the accused and Speight who had appointed Silatolu as prime minister and Nata as a government minister and cabinet secretary.

“Treason can be facilitated in a number of ways, what we are trying to say is there was an agreement. Until the termination of this agreement upon the release of the hostages, that agreement existed until then.

Justice Wilson has also asked that all details of proposed assessors be provided for him including their village and province of origins.

Said Justice Wilson: “There could not be any person in Fiji who does not have their own views on the May 2000 events not to clout their judgment – that’s why it is terribly important that I get their details.’’

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New Zealand warns Fiji relations will suffer if Speight pardoned

SUVA, April 12 2002 - New Zealand warned Fiji that if convicted traitor George Speight is given a pardon or his sentence is reduced there will be “a significant impact” on relations between the two countries, the New Zealand High Commission said Friday.

The warning came in a speech by New Zealand High Commissioner Adrian Simcock who said Fiji should not under estimate the “depth of the abhorrence” felt over Speight’s 2000 coup.

Speight and a group of special forces soldiers seized Parliament in May 2000, holding the government of then Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage for 56 days.

Last month Speight pleaded guilty to a treason charge and was sentenced to death. This was quickly reduced to a life sentenced. His co-conspirators pleaded guilty to lesser charges and got shorter sentences although two leading conspirators, coup spokesman Joe Nata and coup “prime minister” Timoci Silatolu, will next month face treason trials.

A state organisation, the Prerogative of Mercy Commission headed by President Josefa Iloilo, is expected to hear an application to have Speight freed early.

No formal application has been made but Speight’s older brother, Samisoni Speight, is now a member of parliament for the Conservative Alliance (CA) which supports the coalition government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase . CA is running a petition to submit to the commission for Speight’s freedom.

Simcock told the Suva Rotary Club that New Zealand was aware of the moves.

“I do not wish to be seen to be interfering in domestic concerns of Fiji, but I do want to make quite clear that a pardon or significant diminution of sentence would have a significant impact on New Zealand’s view of Fiji and the way in which we wished to conduct our relationship with this country,” Simcock said.

“No one in Fiji, including those who were associated with the coup and those who support the cause which George Speight claimed to represent, should under-estimate the depth of the abhorrence which the events in the precincts of Parliament in May 2000 caused in New Zealand.”

The abhorrence would be shared elsewhere in the world.

“People who talk about a pardon would do well to ponder upon the nature of the crimes which were committed and the potential which a pardon would have in again driving a barrier between Fiji and its partners and friends in the international community, including New Zealand.”

Simcock said relations between the two countries were now good, adding a “large reservoir of goodwill for Fiji” existed in New Zealand, although it had been stressed by the coup events.

As a small player New Zealand based its world view on adherence to fundamental principles, including the rule of law, paramountcy of democratic processes, freedom of expression, respect for individuals, absence of discrimination and equality of opportunity for all people.

“For small countries without the physical means to protect their interests on their own, adherence to these principles is the best means to ensure that world order is maintained.

“I believe that this is a point which Fiji, also a small country, would do well not to overlook.”

Since the coup Fiji had made huge process in restoring democracy and the rule of law and a legitimate parliament was in place.

“In some of these areas, the level of attainment may not be all that would be desired. But I do not think this should mask the magnitude of what has been achieved, or diminish respect for the efforts of those in the Government and in the private sector who have sought to heal the wounds caused to Fiji by George Speight and his accomplices.

“I doubt that one could find an example of another country in the world where the over-throw of legitimate government has been so quickly rectified.”

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Fiji-treason

Treason declared to be far from extinct

SUVA, March 27 2002 - Treason was not e