Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NGO says Fiji police showing no accountability over prisoner injuries

Posted at 17:21 on 31 October, 2012 UTC

The head of an NGO in Fiji says the police are showing a total lack of accountability over the injuries received by escaped prisoners when they were recaptured last month.

Four men were hospitalised, including one who had to have his leg amputated after being apprehended in a joint operation by police and soldiers.

The chair of the Coalition for Human Rights Fiji, Shamima Ali, says they are finding it difficult to get any information from police about the cause of the injuries.

The assistant commissioner of police, Rusiate Tudravu, says they are still waiting on a medical report but Shamima Ali says it should have been completed already.

“If somebody’s leg has been amputated surely there should be a medical report. It is strange that there is no medical report so I just think there is a lot of subterfuge around this whole issue.”

Shamima Ali says the police are starting to suggest that the amputee had diabetes and this could have contributed to his injury.