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Rebel leader wants treason charges thrown out |
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August 26, 2000
SUVA (AP) - Treason charges against coup leader George Speight should be dropped because of a deal with Fiji's military that promised him immunity from prosecution, his lawyers said Friday. At a brief procedural hearing in Suva, the capital, defense lawyers asked Chief Magistrate Sailesi Temo to throw out treason charges against Speight, who faces a maximum sentence of death if convicted. Speight, a failed businessman, led an armed group into Fiji's Parliament on May 19, taking dozens of lawmakers hostage. He claimed to be acting on behalf of indigenous Fijians and demanded they be given political supremacy over the ethnic Indian community, which makes up 44 percent of Fiji's 814,000 population. The two-month standoff ended when Speight agreed to release the last of his hostages. The military, which imposed martial law after the coup, scrapped the constitution agreed to depose ethnic Indian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry's government and installed a new government stacked with nationalists. As part of the deal, the military also promised Speight and his key supporters immunity from prosecution. But Speight was arrested on July 26 amid a military crackdown which also netted more than 350 coup supporters. While most supporters were charged with unlawful assembly and released, Speight and his key advisers were charged with treason and other serious crimes. Prosecutors have argued that the charges are valid because Speight breached the deal with the military because he did not meet the condition that he surrender all weapons used in the coup, and because the deal was struck under duress. Temo said Friday he would consider submissions from both sides before deciding whether to throw out the treason charge. He remanded Speight and his advisers to the prison island where they are being held until another hearing on Sept. 4. An army spokesman said Friday five more missing military rifles were recovered Thursday night from an unoccupied house near the small town of Korovou, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Suva. Also Friday, the government said in a statement that the Great Council of Chiefs - the supreme body representing indigenous Fijians - would select three members of a commission which will rewrite the constitution. Two other members of the commission would be Fiji Indians, one would represent Fiji's other ethnic communities and a lawyer would be chairman, a government statement said. Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has rejected calls by Chaudhry and some foreign governments for the restoration of the previous multiracial constitution, and has promised to call elections within three years, after the constitution has been rewritten.
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