Former Fiji PM Bainimarama handed one-year prison sentence
World
By
AFP
| May 09, 2024
Former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison for perverting the course of justice, with a judge finding he used his political clout to shut down a police investigation.
Bainimarama was sentenced at Fiji's High Court in the capital Suva, after being found guilty this year of quashing a police probe into alleged corruption at a Fijian university.
The former military commander seized power in a bloodless coup in 2006 and remains a popular figure in the South Pacific nation.
A crowd of supporters sang outside the court as the sentence was handed down before Bainimarama was handcuffed and led away into a waiting police truck.
Bainimarama's wife Maria sobbed throughout acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo's sentencing remarks.
READ MORE
Mr moneybags: How the Sh500 note came to be known as Jirongo
Why KJSEA top performers are torn between academics, sports and sciences
Kenya's untapped export potential hits Sh670b mark
Why elephant numbers are rising while buffaloes decline
Africa cannot achieve peace without women
Kisumu top official scoops award for shaping tourism policy
Raila's second killing: Why Ruto's high praise of 'Baba' is a second betrayal
Alcohol industry reels from new proposed radical curbs on sales
Beyond the training ground: How coach Ruth Bundotich is nurturing stars to global glory
Regional voices, land rights and culture take centre stage at 2025 Community Land Summit
A lower court magistrate ruled in March that Bainimarama's ailing health -- he underwent urgent heart surgery in 2022 -- meant the 70-year-old should not be sent to prison.
But Temo upended this decision, saying it "completely ignored" the severity of Bainimarama's actions.
The judge lashed former naval commodore Bainimarama for trashing his oaths of office.
He did, however, reduce Bainimarama's sentence on the strength of character references provided by two former Fijian presidents.