2 Jul 2008

Fiji interim regime critical of EU law and order consultation line-up

1:39 pm on 2 July 2008

Fiji's interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, is today scheduled to meet the three-member European Union expert mission as part of its visit to study the rule of law in Fiji.

Mr Sayed Khaiyum confirmed the planned series of meetings was part of the EU consultation, given that it was a major donor to various projects undertaken in the country.

While he said the group was impartial, he questioned the current list of persons the team was to meet.

Mr Sayed Khaiyum said the president of the Fiji Law Society in 2000, Chen Bunn Young, should have been included.

He said when he expressed his concern to the French ambassador but he was told Mr Young had been accidentally forgotten.

"We obviously are concerned about such accidents taking place and we hope that this list is expanded, I was informed this afternoon and assured that the list could be expanded and that we could in fact add further names to it."

Mr Sayed Khaiyum said the Attorney-General's Office had been assured that the list could be expanded to include more professionals who could give their input on the rule of law situation in Fiji at the height of the 2006 military coup.