The Interim Attorney General stresses that no one should interfere in the work of the judiciary after questions raised by the SDL on how long they have to wait for the judgment on their case against Commodore Bainimarama and others.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said no one should push the judges to make rulings on any cases as that is clear interference in the work of the judiciary.
"This is another example of officials of the SDL who aspire certain principals but in practical terms do not know how to adhere to them. Nor do they actually in practical terms believe them. One of the cornerstones of the judiciary is that you do not interfere with the judicial process. And part and parcel of the judicial process is the delivery of judgment. When the judges believe they are ready to deliver a judgment based on the fact and the law and the evidence is presented to it. So while on the one hand the SDL is going around talking about the independence of the judiciary, they are in fact not in adherence to the principal, they in fact are undermining the independence of the judiciary." Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
The SDL Party's National Director, Peceli Kinivuwai said it is now almost three months since the case against the Interim Prime Minister and others was heard and they are still waiting for a judgement on the legality or otherwise of the events of December 2006 and the interim government.
He also said that very few cases in the history of the nation has taken so long, and they urge the Acting Chief Justice and the judiciary to facilitate an early release of the judgement.
"When will the judges be able to give us a decision on the SDL case against the Commodore and his team. If we look at all happening today, it all boils down to the results of the case that we have. And it is of national interest and we would appeal, we would be very, very happy because Fiji is waiting for this case if a judgment could be given to this effect because if we look back at the 2001 Chandrika Prasad case– it only took the judiciary three weeks to make a decision. But this has gone into the third month and a lot of the issues in this country will be rectified once the judges give the ruling." Peceli Kinivuwai.
High Court sources had earlier confirmed that the judgement would take some time as the three judges, Acting Chief Justce, Anthony Gates, Justice Davendra Pathik and Justice John Byrne are busy with other cases. No date has been set for the ruling as yet. We have also received confirmation that Justice Gates is on leave until July 7th.
