PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, April 24) – Another member of the new- Solomon Islands Parliament, Charles Dausabea, was arrested this morning.

Dausabea was arrested immediately after he was sworn into parliament this morning.

Police last night raided his hotel room in an attempt to arrest him but he was missing.

Also in Parliament this morning, the proposed election of the speaker of parliament was suspended.

This follows a request from the contestant from Rural Advancement party Honorable Patteson Oti, on grounds that one of their members, Nelson Ne’e, is still in police custody, which affected their numbers.

Former Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza from the AIMP party and Patteson Oti from the Rural Advancement Party have been nominated to run for the post.

The election would depend on the release of Nelson Ne’e.

[PIR editor’s note: According to ABC News yesterday, Opposition Member of Parliament, Member for Central Honiara Nelson Ne'e, was charged with two counts of intimidation and one of managing an unlawful society. See story. ]

A third member of parliament, Patrick Vahoe, was earlier charged with breaching the curfew. He was later released on bail. Mr Vahoe is the Member for Malaita Outer Islands.

Meanwhile, after investigating last week's orgy of riots, arson and looting, police also arrested a former Lord Mayor of Honiara and charged another man, Ben Talai, with threatening to burn down the house of the member for West Are Are, Severino Nuaiasi.

Another group of about 20 people had also appeared in a makeshift court, upstairs at the Central Police Station at Honiara on Saturday, on charges arising from last week's civil strife.

Most faced charges arising from alleged curfew breaches.

However three were charged with assaulting police and another with unlawful possession of a police radio.

The former Lord Mayor, Robert Wales Feratelia, who is also president of the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA), is facing two charges.

He was refused bail, even though his lawyer, Stephen Lawrence, said he needed to see his sick daughter in hospital and attend to customary funeral arrangements for his uncle, the business-man John Fera, who died on Saturday.

Mr Feratelia is facing charges of managing or assisting to manage an illegal society and unlawful assembly.

The law says that 10 or more people who gather for an unlawful purpose can be declared an illegal society.

Mr Feratelia, who stood unsuccessfully in the April 5 elections, said through his lawyer, Stephen Lawrence, that the charges had no basis in fact.

They relate to events said to have occurred both during a protest outside the national parliament last Tuesday and later at the National Art Gallery

Both protests were against Snyder Rini's election as Prime Minister.

The magistrate, Barnabas Upwe, rejected Mr Feratelia's bail application.

The hearing at which his bail was sought also started in an upstairs room at the Central Police Station in Honiara yesterday.

Traffic noise outside the court overpowered the voices of those inside.

Mr Lawrence said it is important for the administration of justice that the courts be seen to maintain their independence from the executive.

A police station was certainly part of executive government, he added.

"Court sessions in an upstairs room (of a police station) can never be considered to be utterly open and fair," Mr Lawrence said.

The bail hearing was then moved to the Honiara magistrate's court at Mr Lawrence's request.

Mr Lawrence said one of Mr Feratelia's daughters, Vana, who was taken to hospital with a high fever, wanted her father to spend nights there with her.

A witness, whose son was also admitted to hospital after a fall, said she had seen Vana in the emergency admission section of the hospital, vomiting.

He said Mr Feratelia is required, by custom, to sit with Mr Fera's body.

"It is very important, culturally, that he be with the body," Mr Lawrence said.

He said his client, who lived with his family in the Green Valley home he owns, is not a flight risk.

He said Mr Feratelia is a former bank manager, who is now a freelance consultant.

Mr Lawrence said Mr Feratelia had never previously been in trouble with the law.

However the Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Galvin Ora, said the charges Mr Feratelia is facing are serious, with implications for the security and safety of other citizens.

Solomon Star: http://www.solomonstarnews.com/

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