Arrests after meeting a ‘return to dictatorship’

FIJI – The Fiji group Pacific Dialogue says it did not legally need to apply for a permit for a church hall meeting near Suva two weeks ago after which six prominent people, including two former prime ministers, were arrested.

The case of the six is now with the public prosecutor who will decide if they held an unauthorised meeting and if their discussion about the 2013 constitution imperilled the safety of the state – breaches punishable with up to two years in prison.

The chairman of Pacific Dialogue Jone Dakavula said no permit was required to meet in church for a charitable event – to which the prime minister himself was also invited.

In a statement, Dakavula said the policemen who interviewed him implied that direction to intervene at the meeting was given “right from the top”.

He asked why police recording the meeting didn’t stop it if it was illegal. And Dakuvula questions who complained to the police and why it took them six days to carry out the arrests.

He said the episode showed Fiji was being converted in to a dictatorship after steeply declining from the true liberal democracy it had before the 2006 Coup.

The six men being investigated are Attar Singh, Biman Prasad, Mahendra Chaudhry, Sitiveni Rabuka, Tupeni Baba and Jone Dakuvula.

According to Fiji’s Public Order Amendment Decree a permit is required for those wanting to hold a public meeting.

The decree gives permission to the commissioner of police or any divisional police commander to prohibit a meeting they think may undermine the public safety and good order of the country.

The Fiji Times reported a statement by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama who said he was disappointed with the international community and their questioning of Fiji’s laws without objectivity.

“The Public Order Act, among other provisions, requires any group wanting to hold a public meeting to apply for a permit from the police before the proposed event.”

Bainimarama said no application was made therefore the police were acting within their rights.

“Those who attended this gathering were lawfully detained for questioning and there have been no allegations of any of their human rights being breached while in detention,”

Fiji’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that it has received from the police the files of six people who are alleged to have breached the decree.

The Prosecutor’s Office said it would review the files and decide whether to lay charges.

In an interview with Radio New Zealand International, last week, Chaudhry referred to the incident as an act of “intimidation” and said there is no democracy in Fiji.

“If we can’t hold a forum to discuss our own constitution in a democracy – what kind of democracy is that? We want to live in a free society not where there are restrictions on free speech.”

When he was elected in 2014, Bainimarama thanked a crowd in Suva saying: “I am deeply honoured and humbled that the Fijian people have put their trust in me to lead them into our new and true democracy.”

- PNC sources