Speight charged, investigated for treason

2:00 PM

SUVA - Fijian rebel leader George Speight has been charged with criminal offences and is being investigated for treason, Fiji police said on Tuesday.

The charges mean Speight should be brought from his island prison of Nukulau to face a court in the capital Suva. But authorities said a date for a hearing had not yet been set.

"We are preparing the files and then having discussions with the director of public prosecutions. A date will then be determined," Assistant Commissioner of Police Moses Driver said.

Driver would not give further details of Monday's charges but said they were not related to treason.

Fiji's military has said Speight could face treason charges for storming parliament on May 19 and taking Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian leader, and most of his cabinet hostage for 56 days in the name of indigenous Fijian rights.

Driver made no comment on allegations made by Speight's lawyer, Kitione Vuetaki, that Speight had been injured while in custody.

Vuetaki told Reuters on Monday that Speight and at least three key aides had been hurt while held under military guard.

Fiji media said on Tuesday that Ratu Timoci Silatolu, a key Speight political ally who was arrested on Friday, might be suffering internal injuries.

"I told them to expect such behaviour from the military and cope with it," the Fiji Daily Post quoted Vuetaki as saying.

"Silatolu could be suffering from internal injuries and might be brought to a hospital in Suva," said Vuetaki, who visited Speight and his supporters on their prison island on Sunday.

No other details of the injuries were available. There was no immediate popular reaction to the reports of injuries.

Speight was arrested last week, and on Saturday moved to Nukulau, a small island off the capital which has been declared a no-go zone by the military.

Fiji's military had offered him and his core group amnesty from prosecution on charges relating to the storming of parliament as part of a deal to secure the hostages' release.

The amnesty was offered on condition the rebels returned all weapons they had stolen. The amnesty was never granted because the time period for the return of weapons lapsed last week with the rebels still holding at least 18 stolen guns.

Vuetaki said he would file a writ of habeas corpus in a bid to force authorities to call Speight to court on Tuesday or Wednesday and give details of the charges against him and to call for an independent medical report into the injuries.

About 160 Speight supporters were taken to court on Monday, part of a group of 361 people facing charges resulting from a raid on rebel camp in a Suva school last Thursday.

Some of those who appeared in court on Monday were injured and one man had his face heavily bandaged. Almost all were given bail on a charge of unlawful assembly and told to reappear in four weeks.

Defence lawyers said more were due in court on Wednesday.

Speight is also alleged to have made threats to Fiji's head of state, ailing 79-year-old President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

"These (charges) are relating to other offences, but in respect to the treason, which is a complex inquiry, that investigation is continuing," Driver told Reuters.

Treason carries the death penalty, which has not been enforced since independence in 1970.

The new interim government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase on Tuesday toured the parliament complex where Speight held Chaudhry and most of his cabinet hostage.

The new government was given a traditional welcome on a lawn ringed by burnt-out cars and trashed offices left behind by Speight's supporters.

"I believe the extent of the destruction presents a national disgrace," Qarase told the gathering.

The military is also hoping for a peaceful end this week to a rebel occupation of a hydro-electric facility at Monasavu on the main island of Viti Levu.

Chaudhry said while on a visit to Australia on Monday that the maintenance of law and order was the most difficult task ahead for Fiji and he suggested outside help might be needed.

- REUTERS