Asia-Pacific Network: 9 November 2000
FIJI: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: HUMAN RIGHTS AT RISK
Fundamental human rights guaranteed in international law and Fiji military decrees issued after a coup in May appear to have been violated by military and prison authorities in Fiji - at least nine people were killed and 30 injured, and relatives have been denied access to many of those injured.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
9 November 2000
Fundamental human rights guaranteed in international law and Fiji
military decrees issued after a coup in May appear to have been
violated by military and prison authorities in Fiji; at least
nine people were killed and 30 injured, and relatives have been
denied access to many of those injured.
At about 1 pm on 2 November 2000, members of the Fiji
army's special Counter Revolutionary Warfare unit (CRW) took at
least three soldiers from regular units hostage at Queen
Elizabeth Barracks in the capital Suva, and shot dead, reportedly
at close range, two unarmed soldiers from other army units. At
about 6.30 pm, regular army forces loyal to the military
commander launched a counter-attack, freeing all hostages and
regaining control of the barracks. At least 30 people were
injured in fighting, and Fiji's military commander, Commodore
Ratu Voreqe Bainimarama, narrowly escaped being killed or
captured by rebels. Eight soldiers - five CRW members and three
others - were subsequently confirmed dead, but it appears that
some dead CRW members may not have died from injuries sustained
in fire-fights. The aim of the estimated 20-40 CRW rebels
carrying out the apparent mutiny remains unclear, but some of
them had reportedly been released from prison only a week
earlier. They had initially been held for their suspected role in
a coup on 19 May 2000 in which the elected government was taken
hostage and hundreds of Indo-Fijian families suffered racist
attacks from coup supporters.
Amnesty International is concerned by Fiji media reports
asserting that up to five CRW soldiers arrested after the mutiny
were beaten to death, and that at least 10 other arrested CRW
members were beaten by members of the army. There are reports
that some of them were not at the barracks during the mutiny but
arrested elsewhere. Two of the dead CRW officers were seen
uninjured at a police station during the night of their arrest,
before being driven away by regular troops, apparently to Queen
Elizabeth Barracks. There are also reports suggesting that senior
army officers intervened to stop the beating of CRW members by
other soldiers at Queen Elizabeth Barracks. At least 10 CRW
members were seen leaving a police station without apparent
injuries during the night of 2-3 November in the custody of
military officers. Six of them are now believed to be recovering
in hospital from injuries sustained in beatings. According to
relatives of Apaitia Waqaniboro, an injured CRW soldier who has
been denied family visits, hospital staff told his wife he was
being treated in intensive care for fractured ribs, "lung
trauma", a broken jaw and a swollen eye. Apaitia Waqaniboro had
reportedly been intercepted by army patrols in the company of
Major General Sitiveni Rabuka as the two left the barracks in
Rabuka's car a few hours after the mutiny began on 2 November.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who led two military coups in Fiji in 1987 and
lost general elections as Prime Minister in 1999, is being
investigated by police over his presence at the barracks.
On 4 November 2000, the Chair of the Fiji Human Rights
Commission, Justice Sailosi Kepa, announced that the Commission
would hold an inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths of
five soldiers and one civilian, allegedly after severe beatings,
within hours of their arrest on 2 and 3 November. The
Commission's inquiry could be crucial, as anonymous phone calls
to a pathologist, seeking to influence the outcome of autopsies
on dead soldiers, and the denial of access for relatives to
injured CRW suspects, may indicate attempts to cover up the true
circumstances of their apprehension and treatment by regular army
members.
Nine CRW members, reportedly admitted after their arrest
to Suva's Colonial War Memorial Hospital with chest and head
injuries, and an unknown number currently detained in Suva's
Korovou Prison, have been denied visits by relatives since their
arrest or admission to hospital a week ago. Some suspected rebel
soldiers now detained at Korovou Prison in Suva were initially
held at the army's Queen Elizabeth Barracks where families were
also denied visits. Reports that army and prison doctors have
been called in to provide medical assistance to those now held at
the prison appear to support Fiji media reports that they were
severely beaten by regular troops who arrested them. The Fiji
Times of 9 November 2000 cited military commander Bainimarama as
saying the visiting restrictions were imposed because the men are
being "treated as murderers". He was quoted as saying "The men
are injured and are still recovering from wounds they received so
why should their wives want to see them?"
Military decrees do not permit arbitrary detention or
blanket visiting restrictions for families and lawyers, and only
courts may extend detention of suspects held on remand beyond an
initial period of 48 hours. According to the families of
imprisoned injured CRW members, Korovou Prison officers on 8
November 2000 cited the absence of written instructions from
military headquarters for their refusal to honour informal
assurances given on 7 November that families would be allowed to
visit relatives the following day, and on subsequent Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Amnesty International is not aware of any
law or decree under which the military's permission is required
for prison officers to allow families visiting rights.
Amnesty International is concerned that these
developments follow earlier reports from Fiji that excessive
force was used in the arrest in August of George Speight and his
supporters, who led an attempted coup in May 2000, and into which
the interim Minister of Home Affairs has ordered an inquiry.
However, to Amnesty International's knowledge, no such inquiry
has been ordered by the Interim Administration into reports that
some police and army officers took part in attacks on Indo-Fijian
families by indigenous Fijians supporting the coup on 19 May
2000. The administration has recently recognized the widespread
looting and burning of Indo-Fijian homes, shops and farms in
racist attacks by indigenous Fijians which caused hundreds of
Indo-Fijians to flee their homes.
Amnesty International appeals to the Fiji authorities to
respect the fundamental principle of international law that no
emergency decrees, mutinies or other threats to national security
permit any exception from the universal prohibition of torture
and extra-judicial executions. International standards on
prisoner treatment, including the prohibition of torture and
other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment,
continue to apply under Fiji's current military decrees and the
country's 1997 Constitution.
Amnesty International believes that all alleged
involvement of security forces in human rights violations should
be equally subject to thorough, independent and impartial
investigations, and that suspected perpetrators should be brought
to justice, in a fair trial in accordance with international
standards. These standards apply equally to those alleged to have
participated in the apparent mutiny and to those involved in
crushing that mutiny.
Amnesty International calls on prison authorities and the
military leadership in Fiji to allow immediate access to any
family members, family lawyers and independent doctors requesting
a visit to soldiers in hospital or prison.
Amnesty International also urges the ruling civilian Fiji
Interim Administration, the military leadership and the Fiji
Police Service to ensure that the Fiji Human Rights Commission
receives full cooperation and all necessary assistance to carry
out an effective, thorough and impartial investigation, in line
with international standards on such investigations.
ASA 18/009/2000
212/00