Fiji commission to probe killings
SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji’s human rights commission will investigate the deaths of eight soldiers in a failed mutiny at the country’s main military barracks, a top official announced Sunday.
The announcement of the inquiry by commissioner Sailosi Kepa followed reports that five mutineers were beaten to death after the rebellion was put down, in retaliation for the deaths of three soldiers.
Eight people were killed in the attack, including three regular troops who were shot dead when about 40 soldiers from the army’s Counter Revolutionary Warfare unit stormed the mess hall of the Queen Elizabeth II barracks and took several hostages on Thursday. Another 20 soldiers and five civilian bystanders were injured.
Relatives of some of the dead mutineers told local media that their bodies had no bullet wounds, but showed signs of being beaten.
Kepa said in a statement that all of the deaths would be investigated, adding that no one is above the law and that people in custody have the right to expect due process.
Military authorities are still searching for 12 mutineers who escaped from the barracks during Thursday’s fighting.
The motive for the rebellion remains unclear, but speculation was that at least eight of soldiers feared they would be dismissed from the army because of their roles in a May 19 coup. Renegade members of the unit were part of a group that stormed Parliament, launching a coup that toppled the government of then-Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
Coup leader George Speight said he wanted to reduce the power of Fiji’s ethnic-Indian minority, which controls much of the country’s commerce. Chaudhry was Fiji’s first prime minister of ethnic-Indian descent.
Speight was arrested and imprisoned after the coup and awaits trial on treason charges.
Fiji, a nation of 320 islands about 2,250 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, is ruled by a military-installed civilian government that pledged to hold elections within two years. It also says it will reserve the top political jobs for indigenous Fijians.
