Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Fiji agency of watchdog group says investigations into deaths in custody progressing transparently

Posted at 07:08 on 13 August, 2007 UTC

Transparency International in Fiji says it is confident that the cases of three men who died after allegedly being beaten by police and soldiers will be solved by the courts in a transparent way.

Tevita Malasebe died in June after being taken into police custody, and seven police officers have been charged over his death.

Two other men, Nimilote Verebasaga and Sakiusa Rabaka, both died after being allegedly beaten by soldiers half a year ago.

Their case is still with the prosecution and no charges have been laid.

Transparency’s Harry Singh, says he believes there are good reasons for the delay.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it from our perspective, because the DPP has approved the charges to be laid and now it is a matter of charges being processed in the proceedings with the court system. I have no difficulty with that. And the other case, we have full confidence in the independence of the DPP in taking the other cases to the courts.”

Transparency International’s, Harry Singh.