7 Mar 2012

Fiji's DPP slams damning report on rule of law

11:32 am on 7 March 2012

Fiji's Director of Public prosecutions Christopher Pryde says a damning report by a British legal group on Fiji's legal system is intellectually dishonest and discredits the organisation involved.

The head of the Law Society Charity, Nigel Dodds, made a private trip to Fiji in November last year and interviewed lawyers, former judges, prosecutors and civil society groups.

The group's report found the rule of law no longer operates in Fiji.

In a statement the interim government describes the group, set up by the Law Society of England and Wales, as obscure.

It says it has spread false, outrageous and inflammatory allegations against the Fiji legal system and has made rascist allegations against the DPP's office.

Mr Pryde says Mr Dodds' failure to solicit opinion from people actively engaged with the Fijian legal system suggests he and his organisation were either being used by disgruntled people in Fiji or they are being deliberately obtuse.