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Change Your Life! |
Fiji coup leaders' first court appearance |
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News
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August 5, 2000
SUVA (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday urgently worked to finalize charges against Fiji's arrested coup leader George Speight to beat a deadline which could see him released from his island jail in 36 hours. Speight and a group of key advisers have been jailed for more than a week without facing a magistrate, and a legal extension allowing the military to hold them without appearing in court expires at 10 p.m. Saturday local time (1000 GMT). The race to bring Speight to court comes as the military extended a deadly crackdown on his supporters on Fiji's second-largest island, Vanua Levu. One rebel supporter was killed Thursday in a gunfight with soldiers, 76 others were arrested and a search continued Friday for rebels who fled into the jungle. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Josaia Naiglulevu said Friday his staff members were preparing evidence to support charges against Speight ahead of his arraignment. Security concerns may mean a magistrate will be taken to the prison island off Suva where the group is being held, rather than Speight being brought to the courthouse downtown. "That is an option being considered because of the danger that could be posed by supporters if they come to the court," said Lt. Semi Koroi, a military spokesman. Fiji's Daily Post newspaper quoted from a letter purportedly written by Speight to his lawyers in which he claimed he was beaten by soldiers while in custody and feared he was going to be killed. "The abuse included slapping, punching, kicking and the use of rifle butts to the head, face, neck, back, chest and stomach," the paper cited Speight's letter as saying. Koroi declined comment on the report. Speight was arrested more than a week ago and charged with unlawful assembly, minor offenses relating to firearms and the unlawful burial of one of his followers within the grounds of Fiji's Parliament. A treason investigation is underway. Speight faces a death sentence if found guilty, although nobody has been executed in Fiji since independence from Britain in 1970. Suva's court building was cordoned off and army marksmen patrolled the roof when almost 400 rebel supporters faced court over three days this week. They were charged with unlawful assembly but almost all were released on bail and warned not to gather in groups. Speight, a failed businessman, led a group of gunmen into Parliament on May 19 and held dozens of officials for two months until the military met rebel demands for an amnesty, discarded the multiracial constitution and ousted the hostage government. Speight claimed that ethnic Indian Fijians have too much power and threaten indigenon Labasa on Vanua Levu, "the rebels can spend weeks in the jungle, but we will not return until all suspects are arrested," Koroi said.
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