The Police
- Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes expressed reservations about the legislation on 24 May, saying that empowering the proposed commission to override decisions of the judiciary could compromise police investigations. He said that he would inform Home Affairs Minister Josefa Vosanibola of his reservations. Hughes had previously stated that a better approach to reconciliation could involve George Speight, the chief instigator of the 2000 coup, testifying to the police and revealing all he knew. He said that Speight had turned down several attempts by the police to persuade him to do so.
The disagreement between the government and the police escalated on 7 July, after the police made a submission to Parliament strongly opposing the bill, saying that it would create more division, encourage coups, threaten national peace and security, and undermine the powers vested in the Commissioner of Police by the Fijian Constitution. Home Affairs Minister Josefa Vosanibola ordered Commissioner Hughes to refrain from making any further public comments. As a government institution, Vosanibola said, the police must express their opinions through the proper channels.
"The Fiji police believes the primary purpose of the proposed Bill is to grant amnesty to those who committed serious criminal offences during and after the events of May 2000," the parliamentary submission said. "Serious criminal offences that were committed during the designated period mentioned in the Bill include murder, serious injuries to people and damage to properties. "To allow murderers and those who committed treason to go free is political expediency rather than promoting reconciliation, tolerance and unity in Fiji."
Read more about this topic: Yellow Ribbon Campaign (Fiji)
Famous quotes containing the word police:
“The duties which a police officer owes to the state are of a most exacting nature. No one is compelled to choose the profession of a police officer, but having chosen it, everyone is obliged to live up to the standard of its requirements. To join in that high enterprise means the surrender of much individual freedom.”
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