Sentence
On 18 February 2002, Speight was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to a charge of treason. However the government of the Prime Minister Hon. Laisenia Qarase had abolished the death sentence in the House of Representatives on the day that Speight was sentenced.
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who had replaced Mara following the coup, followed the advice of the Prime Minister and commuted Speight's sentence to life imprisonment. Speight started serving his sentence on Nukulau Island where he had been living out his exile. Following the decision of the Military government to close the Nukulau facility Speight was transferred on 20 December 2006. He is currently serving out his sentence at the Nuboro Maximum Security Prison.
Read more about this topic: George Speight
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