Solomons attorney-general should face up to charges - Downer

CANBERRA - The Australian government says it cannot lay out evidence it has in a rape case against Solomon Islands' nominated attorney-general Julian Moti.

Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has called for Canberra to lay out its case or drop the charges.

But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today said this was not possible because Australia's legal system worked independently of government.

"The way our legal system works is that the independent director of public prosecutions lays charges and we expect those to be heard in a court," he told ABC Radio today.

"It's for the court to make decisions about Mr Moti, not for the Australian government to negotiate those charges and present the evidence to Mr Sogavare."

Mr Downer wants Moti to return to Australia to face charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.

"I would have thought that it made an enormous amount of sense for the Solomon Islands government to let Mr Moti face those charges.

"They're not going to disappear overnight because of some political manoeuvre or because of some sort of genius of diplomacy."

- AAP