Metuisela Mua

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Colonel Metuisela Mua is former Fijian military officer, intelligence officer and politician.

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He was the director of the Fiji Intelligence Services, established by Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka's military government in 1988, until it was disbanded by elected Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry in 1999. [1]

Biography

He was a leading participant in the civilian coup, led by George Speight, which overthrew Chaudhry in 2000. Mua was described during the coup as "one of George Speight's inner sanctum". [2] He subsequently explained that his aim had been to ensure that the Constitution was amended "to guarantee the supremacy of indigenous rights". [3]

Following the failed coup, Mua was "interrogated and beaten [...] by loyalist soldiers and relieved of his job. He then spent five months in prison", [3] having been "convicted of illegal assembly and consorting with people carrying firearms in parliament". [4] He had initially been sentenced to two and a half years in gaol. [5]

During the 2001 general election, in which he stood as a candidate for George Speight's Conservative Alliance in the North East Fijian Urban Communal constituency, he stated publicly that his party would not work with an Indo-Fijian prime minister. [6] He was not elected. [7]

As of 2005, he was assistant general secretary of the Conservative Alliance. [8] The party later merged into the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua.

In 2007, he was arrested on suspicion of implication in an alleged plot to assassinate interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. [9] [10] In March 2010, along with seven co-defendants, he was founded guilty "beyond reasonable doubt" by the five assessors of the High Court, a verdict upheld by Justice Paul Madigan. [11] Mua was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. [12]

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References

  1. ↑ "Regime revives Fiji spy agency", Fiji Times , 28 February 2008
  2. ↑ "Shots fired as Fiji coup continues", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 12 June 2000
  3. 1 2 "FIJIAN MILITARY STILL EXORCISING GHOSTS", Ben Bohane, Pacific Journalism Review, vol.7 n°1, September 2001
  4. ↑ "Early release for coup convict Bukurau" Archived 4 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Pacific Media Watch, 20 May 2006
  5. ↑ "Military Versus Government In Fiji", Pacific Media Watch, 3 February 2006
  6. ↑ "Blunders, tension but a thrilling TV debate" Archived 5 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine , Wansolwora, University of the South Pacific, 24 August 2001
  7. ↑ "ELECTED CANDIDATES FOR 2001 ELECTIONS" Archived 9 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , Fiji government website
  8. ↑ "Fiji junior coalition partner denies suggestion of rift with SDL". Radio New Zealand International . 11 April 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Check-up for plot suspects", Fiji Times, 15 December 2007
  10. ↑ "Fiji Boils Over", Time magazine, 9 November 2007
  11. ↑ "Fiji High Court finds 8 men guilty of plotting to kill Bainimarama". Radio New Zealand International . 3 March 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  12. ↑ "Fiji plotters sentenced to up to seven years in jail". Radio New Zealand International . 5 March 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
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