A High Court judge in Fiji has struck out an application for constitutional redress by one of those accused of sedition in the Fiji Times case.
Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
Josaia Waqabaca along with the publisher Hank Arts and editor-in-chief Frank Wesley, is accused over an alleged seditious statement in the Times' Nai Lalakai publication.
According to Fiji VIllage, Mr Waqabaca's lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh told the court the article in question did not constitute hate speech and is within freedom of speech provisions of the constitution.
Justice Thushara Rajasinghe did not find the applicant had specifically stated how Mr Waqabaca's rights had been contravened or were likely to be contravened under the constitution.
Justice Rajasinghe said the application also amounted to an abuse of the court process and it was not an exceptional case under the rules of Constitutional Redress.
Mr Waqabaca has been ordered to pay FJ$1000 in costs.