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SUVA - Former Fiji prime minister and military coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka faces a new trial from Monday after a High Court judge declared a mistrial.
Rabuka had pleaded not guilty to two counts of inciting mutiny in July and November 2000.
He is alleged to have attempted to persuade an army officer to commit mutiny by removing Fiji military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
A former military officer, Rabuka took power in two coups in 1987 and was elected as prime minister in the 1990s.
Justice Gerard Winter ruled today that there had been a mistrial, after Rabuka's defence team made an application yesterday, the online news service fijivillage reported.
The judge did not elaborate.
He also suspended a curfew on Rabuka that had confined him to his home for the course of the trial, but the curfew will be reinstated on Monday when the new trial begins.
- AAP
