A former Nauru cabinet minister, who is one of 16 people facing charges over a protest, says the government's decision to have the case heard by an Australian judge vindicates their stand over interference in the judiciary.
The Nauru justice minister, David Adeang, told parliament that the case, following an anti-government protest at parliament, which the government characterises as a riot, would be complex and needed an outside judge.
The protest happened just over two years ago.
Mr Adeang says the decision to hire a retired judge with Australia Supreme Court or Federal Court experience is not a slight on the Nauru judiciary but an attempt to avoid suggestions of political interference or bias.
Don Wiseman asked one of the people facing trial Mathew Batsiua for their reaction to the announcement.
Nauru
Photo: Supplied/ @ChrisTrott
Transcript
MATHEW BATSIUA: yeah look it's curIous, but we have said for a long time that we won't be able to get a fair trial in Nauru under this government, simply because this government does not respect the rule of law, they don not respect the notion of the separation of powers and in the past they have interfered and intimidated the judiciary by sacking judges, deporting judges, revoking the visa of an incumbent chief justice, did not renew the contracts of judges when they did not like their judgements, and basically created an atmosphere of intimidation with our judicial officers. So the statement yesterday [Tuesday] in parliament by the Minister to bring in a recently retired Supreme or Federal Court judge of Australia to preside over our case, to us only vindicates what we have saying all along, which is that the Nauru judiciary has been compromised by the frequent interference and intimidation by the government, in particular the Minister - so much so that the new lawyers the government has brought in for our trial must have advised them that the only tenable position is for the case to be handled by an independent judge from Australia.
DON WISEMAN: The defence then is happy with this new development?
MB: Yeah look our lawyers and us will be looking at this and discussing it but it does vindicate our position we believe - what we have been saying all along, that the interference of our government in the judiciary has made it so, that our judiciary with the current crop of judges has been compromised by the interference of the government. So therefore we need something different to happen in order for us to get a fair trial.
DW: One of the big of course is going to be whether or not the Nauru Government will be able to entice someone who is clearly a leading person in the Australian judiciary, or previously in the Australia judiciary who is willing to take this job on, given the way Justice Eames [former Chief Justice banned from returning to the island] and other justice officials have been treated.
MB: Those are the issues that will affect such an appointment because they have happened. Those unfortunate events occurred in Nauru whereby our government withdrew the visa of former Chief Justice Eames and deported magistrate Law, simply because they disagreed with decisions they made. So that is an unfortunate historical event that did occur in Nauru and it will play into the minds of those people being approached. But we will see if that happens, we will see what happens from here on, but the statement that the Minister made vindicates our position.
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