July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Thursday, July 12, 2001 - Web posted at 10:51:39 GMT

Fiji coup leader Speight tried for treason

SUVA - Fiji coup leader George Speight was committed to stand trial on treason charges yesterday for overthrowing Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister and his multi-racial government in May 2000.

Treason carries the death penalty in the South Pacific nation but capital sentences are generally commuted to life.

Fiji's chief magistrate ordered Speight and 12 associates to stand trial for treason and referred the case to the High Court for August 31, which is during the country's first post-coup election.

The order to stand trial comes after Speight's defence and the prosecution agreed to abandon the often delayed committal hearing and go straight to trial.

"I am going to defend my client to the best of my ability and this is where the real ball game starts," said Speight's lawyer Marc Michel Gumbert from Australia.

Speight has not denied toppling prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry in the name of indigenous Fijians, but says he should not be prosecuted under an immunity deal with the military.

The immunity deal was reached in order to free Chaudhry and most of his multi-racial cabinet, who were held for 56 days by Speight, but the military says the failure of Speight and his men to surrender all their weapons voided the immunity deal.

The coup brought to the surface simmering racial tensions between indigenous Fijians and Fiji's ethnic Indians, the descendants of indentured labourers who make up about 44 percent of the 800 000 population and whose dominance of the local economy has not been matched by political power.

- Nampa-Reuters

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