Fiji high chief sent to jail

A Fijian Cabinet minister and high chief has been sentenced to eight months' jail for his role in the May 2000 coup after being found guilty of unlawful assembly.

Lands Minister Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, who holds the chiefly title of Tui Cakau, was jailed on Monday with three other chiefs from the northern island of Vanua Levu.

Magistrate Sunil Kumar said that in the 2000 instability, the people of the north expected the chiefs to play a leading role to take them out of the situation. Instead the men did otherwise.