A major sedition trial in Fiji involving 16 people from Ra province is to proceed with the defendants facing adjusted charges.
The accused were originally variously charged with sedition and inciting communal antagonism for allegedly attempting to form a separate Christian state in their province.
The state has since amended the charge of incitement to one of sedition.
Photo: 123RF
Four documents including a petition to the International Court of Justice on indigenous people's grievances were also at issue in the case heard at the Lautoka High Court on Monday.
The court ruled against an application for a stay by the defendants' lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh who said the charges were based on flimsy evidence.
The matter was adjourned until the 16th of March for a plea and for a trial date to be fixed.
A separate sedition trial involving fourteen people from Nadroga begins in the Lautoka High Court on Wednesday.
