KEY POINTS:
Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, must "give the nation back to the people", says freed New Zealand businessman Ballu Khan.
Mr Khan returned to New Zealand after charges he plotted to kill Commodore Bainimarama were permanently stayed.
He said at Auckland International Airport yesterday that neither the military nor police showed accountability or respect for the law, the constitution or for human rights. For Fiji to survive in the international community, Commodore Bainimarama needed to restore the democratic process and the rule of law.
Mr Khan said he needed urgent medical treatment after being badly beaten up by Commodore Bainimarama's soldiers while in custody. He was charged with nine others with conspiring to kill the commodore and several Cabinet ministers but was set free after the High Court in Fiji issued a permanent stay.
Mr Khan was arrested a year ago, a year after Commodore Bainimarama overthrew the elected Government in a bloodless coup.
He was kept in custody for 60 days without appearing before a judge and initially not allowed to see a lawyer in private.
His lawyers asked for a stay order, saying important evidence had been destroyed, prejudicing his case.
Mr Khan said after yesterday's High Court ruling that he never believed he would be free until he stepped on to New Zealand soil.
"We couldn't relax until we had gone through border control [in Fiji] and they had allowed us to leave."
Mr Khan said he would not go back to Fiji.
He described the court ruling as "brave" and a "real warning to the authorities to respect human rights, liberty, the constitution and the rule of law".
He was still puzzled about why he was charged but believed it may have been because he employed some former soldiers to try to help them with rehabilitation after they served prison terms over the mutiny in 2000.
He was also puzzled about why the charges against the other nine were still going ahead.
He said that after he was released on bail he and his staff were regularly intimidated by a "very aggressive posture" by Commodore Bainimarama's soldiers.
"Suva is full of Army intelligence officers in plain clothes so you have to be very careful about where you are, who you are talking to, what you say and what you do."
He said his security staff were regularly locked up by soldiers and kept in barracks for several days. He was regularly beaten and a year ago was very close to death.
Mr Khan said he would get medical treatment for the head injuries he received from Commodore Bainimarama's soldiers and then go to Australia to see his sick mother.
He said his lawyer, Auckland QC Peter Williams, had filed a compensation claim for between $20 million and $40 million in Fiji but that figure could rise in view of the High Court ruling.
- NZPA
