Page 13 - IB November 2019

Politics Politics

NAURU JUDGE ORDERS RETRIAL

By Samisoni Pareti Court of Vanuatu and served as the Chief Justice of Fiji before that, is proceeding
with the absence of two more members of the Nauru 19.
It is back to square one—and the attendant frustrations, fear of political persecu- Squire Jeremiah and his cousin Rutherford Jeremiah fled to Australia in early No-
tions and absence of legal representation at trial for the so called Nauru- 19 following vember where they now are seeking political asylum. Like the late Dabwido, Jeremiah
a judgement on the island this month. was a former opposition MP.
The Nauru 19, which includes several former politicians, are charged in connection “What they want is to persecute people,” he told the ABC in Australia.
with an anti-government protest in 2015. The retired South Australian judge who had imposed the permanent stay of pro-
A new Supreme Court judge (and Fijian national) Daniel Fatiaki, has upheld the ceedings against the Nauru 19 last year condemned the latest developments.
lower court’s decision to remove the permanent stay on proceedings against the 19, “It’s not the role of a retired judge to speak on the record, but I was so ashamed of
instead ordering the group to be re-tried for the criminal offences they were originally what is happening in the judicial system,” retired jurist Geoff Muecke told the ABC.
charged with four years ago. “They want to say they observe the rule of law … but when it gets in the way of
In so doing, Judge Fatiaki refused an adjournment application sought by the what happens, they override it and affront it. I’m appalled by what I have seen,” he
defendants, meaning that the trial would proceed with no legal representation offered said.
to the group. In another development, friends of the late Dabwido have released a letter addressed
The Fijian jurist’s orders wind back the legal victories the group had fought hard for to then President of Nauru, Baron Waqa.
over the years, with the assistance of Australian lawyers. The lawyers had to work pro Dated 11 March 2019, the ailing politician had sought the permission of Waqa to
bono at times, as the Nauru 19 struggled to raise their legal funds. allow his friends, Matthew Batsiua and Squire Jeremiah, to be allowed to leave Nauru
Eventually the government fast-tracked changes to the republic’s laws to prevent for- to attend his wedding in Australia.
eign lawyers from representing the group. New laws were also passed by the previous “You will probably have heard by now of my health situation,” wrote Dabwido.
government to forbid the use of state funds for the defendants’ legal defence. Even though sudden, it is something that has befallen me and as a God-fearing
Judge Fatiaki’s decision also dashed hopes that the new government of President Christian, I place my life in the hands of my creator and submit to his will complete-
Lionel Aingimea would drop the lengthy and unrelenting prosecution of the group ly.”
that his predecessor Baron Waqa and his justice minister David Adeang had pursued. He went onto write that his wedding to his partner Lucy would take place on
Waqa lost his parliamentary seat in the island’s general elections early during the March 14, “as part of my final preparation.”
year, and Adeang now sits on the opposition bench. “We had had our differences in the past over political matters, but I appeal to your
A particularly crushing blow to the group was the death in May this year of one of compassion and hold hope that you will see beyond these differences of the past and
the Nauru 19, Sprent Dabwido, who succumbed to cancer at a hospital in Australia. grant me my last request on this occasion.
Dabwido is a former president of Nauru himself, and his group blamed his death “My best wishes to you, your family and Government.
on the Waqa Government for the delay in allowing him to seek urgent medical “God bless you and God bless the Republic of Nauru!”
treatment abroad. His request was not granted.
The trial before Judge Fatiaki, who retired recently from the bench of the Supreme

The Nauru 19 and supporters Photo: Supplied
Islands Business, November 2019 13