Qarase not legitimate -  terrorists, Magistrate

Issue No: 884; 26 June 2001

 
In an interesting development yesterday, the leader of the terrorists George Speight, and the Magistrate Salesi Temo both stated that the Qarase regime is illegitimate.

Temo explained to the court that he was presiding over the treason case though his contract as Chief Magistrate was not renewed because there was no Chief Magistrate or no Acting Chief Magistrate. He stated that this was because there was no legitimate Prime Minister at the moment, and that the appointment of the Chief Magistrate required that the Prime Minister consult the Leader of the Opposition. This required that there be an elected Parliament before a Chief Magistrate could be appointed.

The leader of the terrorists George Speight also claimed that the Qarase group was illegitimate. He made the comment when he was asking for relaxation of visitation rights, and for greater access to his lawyer.

Laisenia Qarase, who has been implicated with plotting to depose the elected government together with a prominent ethnic Indian businessman, defied the Fiji Court of Appeal decision that his regime was without any legal basis.

Qarase is backed by sections of the military and a strong section of the ethnic Indian business community.

 

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