18 Jun 2015

Suspended Nauru MP to appear in court

1:36 pm on 18 June 2015

A suspended Nauru MP and former justice minister, Mathew Batsiua, is expected to appear in court shortly after spending the last two nights in custody.

Mathew Batsiua being escorted into court

Mathew Batsiua being escorted into court Photo: SUPPLIED

Mr Batsiua was arrested on Tuesday during a protest outside Parliament over the continued suspension of him and four other Opposition MPs.

The Nauru government had claimed he was disrupting the work of Parliament.

Another of the five MPs, Roland Kun, yesterday had his passport confiscated and he was also refused a renewal of his passport.

Mr Kun spends most of his time in Wellington in New Zealand because his Australian-born wife has been denied a Nauru visa.

No explanation has been given and the phone is never answered when Radio New Zealand International tries to reach Nauru government officials to discuss various issues raised by this week's events.

International journalists are effectively banned from Nauru after the imposition of $US7,000 non-refundable visa application fee.

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