The eight men convicted of the charge of conspiracy to murder Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama will be sentenced by High Court Judge Justice Paul Madigan at the Suva High Court this hour.

In their mitigation yesterday, the eight men asked for non-custodial sentences, saying they had played a minimal part in the meetings that were conducted. Several character witnesses were also presented, with the defence counsel and the eight convicted men hoping that non-custodial sentences are handed down today.

After the mitigation yesterday, Justice Madigan stressed that he will seriously consider the degree of participation of each of the eight men when considering the appropriate sentences to be handed down.

While making submissions on the sentence yesterday, DPP Lawyer David Toganivalu highlighted two previous cases on conspiracy to murder charges, and informed the court that in a case in Australia, two conspirators were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment while in another case for a similar offence, two men were sentenced to 9 and 12 years imprisonment.

Toganivalu stressed to Judge Madigan that the sentences must be a deterrent to the eight men and to others who may be thinking of committing such an act.

Justice Madigan questioned Toganivalu on whether he thought there are others who may try such a thing.

He replied that there may be like minded people in our struggling communities who must be deterred from trying to carry out such a crime.

The eight will be sentenced at 3.30 this afternoon.