Stop making misleading statements which threatens the independence of the judiciary.

That’s the message from the Fiji Court of Appeal judges to the Fiji Womens Rights Movement Executive Director, Virisila Buadromo and Fiji Sun Editor, Leone Cabenatabua who were summoned to the Appeals Court earlier this afternoon in relation to a statement by Buadromo which was published in the Fiji Sun today.

Three Appeals Court judges, Justice Nazhat Shameem, Justice Jocelyn Scutt and Justice Daniel Gounder then spoke to Buadromo and Cabenatabua in open court in the presence of their lawyers, Richard Naidu and Suruj Sharma.

Justice Shameem highlighted four main issues that they do not agree with in today's Fiji Sun article, the first is that the recent appointment of the judges to the Appeals Court is illegal, 2nd that the latest appointments were made by the military, 3rd that the interim government was handpicking judges and 4th that Justice Scutt publicly supported the Fiji Human Rights Commission Elections report.

Justice Shameem highlighted that the AG's chambers and the judges who were appointed to the Appeals Court disagree with these four main issues that was published in the Fiji Sun quoting FWRM's Virisila Buadromo.

According to Justice Shameem, some judges were appointed many years ago before the events of December 5th and she gave herself as an example, that she was appointed in 1999.

She also says that its news to them that they are being handpicked and stressed that the contents in the report are false and misleading.

State lawyer, Sarvada Sharma told the judges and Buadromo's lawyer, Richard Naidu and Fiji Sun lawyer, Suruj Sharma that the Interim Attorney General himself is concerned about the article because it threatens the independence of the judiciary and court proceedings. Sharma also highlighted that the judiciary does not stop anybody or any organization from making fair comments.

Fiji Sun lawyer, Suruj Sharma then accepted that there may be some overstepping in writing and publishing the article. However he said now that it has been brought to their attention, they will now look into the matter. He also said that if need be, a corrected piece of the article will be published again and they are ready to apologize.

Justice Shameem then said the Fiji Sun Editor should have been more careful. She reminded Fiji Sun and Buadromo that all High Court judges can sit in the Appeals Court and they were appointed by Justice John Byrne, not the military as claimed in the article.

Richard Naidu then asked Justice Shameem to explain whether this was a formal court proceeding or they were in the court room for a chat.

He kept questioning what was going on and whether it was a formal court proceeding.
Justice Shameem explained that this was not a formal court proceeding but to discuss openly and formally in open court about the four main issues that they have raised in the newspaper. Justice Shameem says the matter was not called in chambers because the public needs to know what is going on.

Justice Scutt also stressed that she did not support the Human Rights Commission election report but she had raised the question about electronic voting and the role of the foreign observors in the 2006 election. She also said that FWRM is wrong in saying that the Fiji Court of Appeal appointments was illegal. Justice Scutt added that the FWRM should feed correct information to the public because people want facts, not fiction.

Outside court, Buadromo's lawyer, Richard Naidu maintained that he is not sure what kind of proceeding was held in court. He has asked for a transcript of whatever transpired in court today and will go through it and comment later today.

Fiji Sun editors are also meeting about the issue. Naidu is also assessing the court transcript. Stay with us for that. The Interim Attorney General has also called a press conference in the next hour.