Lawyer wrangle delays Fiji trial

By staff reporter and wire services

SUVA, Fiji -- The treason trial of coup leader George Speight has been delayed yet again after his new defense lawyer was ruled ineligible to act on his behalf.

Speight's trial was adjourned for one month after he successfully argued he still does not have a lawyer to represent him.

The trial, for a single charge of treason, was delayed last week after Speight was given a week to consult with his newly appointed lawyer, a Singaporean born Indian Navin Naidu.

Naidu, who is based in the U.S. city of Seattle, calls himself an ecclesiastical lawyer affiliated with a gospel church.

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He applied for admission to the Fiji bar but his application was rejected on the grounds he was not sufficiently qualified to practise law in Fiji.

Fiji's chief magistrate Salesi Temo adjourned proceedings for a month.

It is the third such delay of the trial on technical grounds, leading the prosecution to accuse Speight of "playing games" with the court, wire services report.

Speight cautioned

Speight told the court Monday no local lawyer was prepared to represent him and he would want time, "at the very least a month", to find another lawyer overseas.

"I have been locked on this island, I have had no contact with anybody except for 20 minutes at a time, I haven't had the opportunity to see anybody, speak with anybody," he told the court.

"I have not been given full opportunity by the court or by this illegal interim administration in respect to my right to find a lawyer. This had been denied me outright."

Prosecutor Peter Ridgway said Speight was treating proceedings as a game.

Temo told the court Naidu's application for admission to the Fiji bar had been rejected, so he had to give time to Speight to prepare his defense.

"It with the utmost reluctance that I grant George and (his brother) Jim Speight one final chance of finding legal representation for themselves," Temo is reported saying.

Death penalty

"Treason carries a penalty of death and given the seriousness of the case and the rights of the accused to legal representation, in the interests of fair trial, I must lean backwards to see that the rights of the accused people are respected."

However, Temo cautioned Speight to this time around concentrate on getting a lawyer from Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom who could appear in the Fiji court.

Speight and 12 others face a single charge of treason which lists 13 "overt acts" related to events between May 1 and July 31 last year.

This includes the 56 days when now deposed ethnic-Indian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government were held hostage, the suspension of the constitution, looting and rioting in the city of Suva and the forced resignation of president Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

The "preliminary inquiry" opened two weeks ago in the Suva Magistrates Court before Temo, who must decide whether there is a case to answer in the High Court.

He heard in the opening address that Speight and the others were traitors who planned to blow up banks, sink ships and seize the country's president.