how high did investigations go


Alanieta Rabaka at the High Court in Lautoka last month for the trial of her son's killers.


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EDITORIAL
Conviction and sentencing of nine soldiers in Fiji for human rights abuses is welcome evidence of justice functioning in the troubled republic.
Nine men were this week found guilty of manslaughter and five counts of assault following the death of a 19-year-old in 2007, after detention in military custody.
Should be cause for celebration.
Response in Fiji however has been muted, with only one body, the controversial state Human Rights Commission expressing support for the conviction.
"Judge Goundar said in his judgment that no one can take, even if they're law and order, cannot take the law into their own hands because we have separation of power in the country," says commission chairwoman Dr Shaista Shameem.
"You know, the Police and the Military do the arrests and it is the court that decides on the appropriate punishment," she told Radio New Zealand International.
Not yet clear yet from Fiji is what doubts, if any, surround what the commission claims to be successful investigation, prosecution and conviction of human rights abuses.
Credibility of the Fiji Human Rights Commission is not in question on this case, but its stance on earlier issues like deportation of journalists attracted criticism, aimed at influence of the military government over supposedly independent institutions.
Important for human rights groups to recognise when governments do the right thing, if they are to live up to media standards of fairness and balance.
Equally important, governments do not 'game' the system by using low level soliders or other workers as scape goats or show ponies in any propaganda war.
Groups like the Pacific Freedom Forum need to hear from NGOs in Fiji about this important case, a possible precedent for investigating other abuses.
Fiji national Sakiusa Rabaka died in February a month after he and a group of friends were detained at the start of 2007.
Those doubting the fullness of investigations say armed forces have a poor history of admitting human rights abuses, as well as limiting investigations to low ranking troops.
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