Eight soldiers and a police officer convicted of killing a teenager in Fiji have been released after being sentenced in March to four years and four months in prison for his manslaughter and assault.
In January 2007, Sakiusa Rabaka and two other youths were taken to the Black Rock military site on the outskirts of Nadi where they were detained for eight hours, tortured, stripped and assaulted.
The nineteen-year old died about a month after his detention.
The Public Prosecutions Office in Lautoka says it is not common for people to be released so quickly after being sentenced for such serious crimes.
But the lawyer for the men, Haroon Ali Shah, says they have been released under a community service order, which is not unusual.
"They're back in the community you know, they go about. I don't know if they have been absorbed into the service, that I'm not aware of. But obviously apart from the restrictions, as per the warrant, it's a special warrant it would have the conditions under which they are released, reporting, monitoring, reporting to perhaps a police station or a probation officer, or something to that effect."
Defence lawyer Haroon Ali Shah
