Fiji’s ex-PM defiant against Speight cronies

By JOHN ARMSTRONG and AGENCIES

Deposed Fiji Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry is willing to state publicly that George Speight is guilty of treason, even though he and his family have received death threats.

And Mr Chaudhry does not rule out giving evidence at Speight's trial.

"There have been threats on our lives," Mr Chaudhry said on his arrival in Wellington from Sydney yesterday afternoon.

But he refuses to go into exile.

He said Speight was guilty of treason - a charge Fiji authorities are considering laying against the coup leader, and one which carries the death penalty.

Speight pleaded not guilty to a string of minor charges when he and 12 key associates appeared in the Suva Magistrate's Court on Saturday amid tight security.

He is being held in custody while a treason investigation continues against him.

Mr Chaudhry spent a week in Sydney, receiving medical attention for cracked ribs incurred during the 56 days he and other members of his Coalition Government were held hostage by Speight in Fiji's Parliament Buildings in Suva. He said he was now feeling fine.

Fiji's first Prime Minister of Indian descent, he is in New Zealand for a meeting of the Socialist International.

He is not an official guest of the Government, but was met at the airport by cabinet minister Trevor Mallard, and will talk to Prime Minister Helen Clark this afternoon. He returns to Fiji on Thursday.

Mr Chaudhry said law and order in Fiji had improved since the military finally started asserting its authority.

"They should have done it long ago," he said.

"But right now, I think Fiji is a very unsafe place for us, and a number of people, particularly of ethnic Indian origin, feel that way."

If the interim Government did not move swiftly to restore democratic rule in Fiji, he would press New Zealand to impose tougher sanctions, including trade restrictions.

New Zealand and Australia have implemented so-called "smart" sanctions, but held off imposing a trade boycott.

In his discussions with Helen Clark, he would also raise the possibility of New Zealand taking some displaced Fiji-Indians into the country as refugees.

In Suva on Saturday, prosecutors revealed they would ignore an amnesty and probably charge Speight with treason.

The rebel and his key lieutenants denied other charges in their first court appearance.

An arraignment hearing that normally would have lasted just minutes took almost six hours as lawyers argued about whether the key players in the coup were immune from prosecution on charges directly related to their armed raid of Fiji's Parliament on May 19 and a hostage standoff that toppled the Government.

In the end, Speight and 12 of his inner circle were remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to relatively minor charges, including unlawful assembly and carrying firearms "in such a manner as to cause terror."

They were ordered to reappear on September 1, although their lawyers will have an opportunity to seek bail at an interim hearing on August 11.

Two changes of position were revealed in Saturday's hearing.

Prosecutors said they would not honour an immunity decree granted by the military to Speight's rebel group.

And the rebels' lawyer said they now "accepted totally" Fiji's new Government, and wanted to lead reconciliation in Fiji.

Before his arrest on July 26, Speight threatened to stir a new campaign of civil unrest unless the new Government was stacked with his supporters.