The Nauru 19 was a group of defendants in cases related to an anti-government protest in Yaren, Nauru in 2015. They faced a long, delayed trial, with alleged government interference. Initially, the case was thrown out on 13 September 2018. However, the government appealed, overturning the permanent stay. In the subsequent retrial, the fifteen remaining members of the group were sentenced to a maximum of 11 months in prison in December 2019. All of the protestors were released by April 2020.
On 16 June 2015, there was an anti-government protest outside of the parliament building in Yaren, attended by hundreds. [1] The protest was in response to the suspension of five opposition MPs since 2014 by the Baron Waqa government. [2] MPs suspended included Mathew Batsiua, former President Sprent Dabwido, Squire Jeremiah, and Roland Kun. [3] These MPs were accused by the government of attempting to destabilize Nauru through the foreign press. [2] The protest eventually spilled into the airfield and resulted in minor damage to the parliament building. [1] A number of police officers were also injured. Extra police were put on duty following the protests. [2]
Nineteen protestors were charged with offenses such as serious assault, rioting and disturbing the legislature. [4] The nineteen people charged were Meshack Akubor, Mathew Batsiua, Pisoni Bop, Job Cecil, Sprent Dabwido, Grace Detageouwa, Estakai Foilape, Mereiya Helstead, Dabub Jeremiah, Daniel Jeremiah, John Jeremiah, Rutherford Jeremiah, Squire Jeremiah, Joram Joram, Bureka Kakioua, Jacki Kanath, Josh Kepae, Renack Mau, and Piroy Mau. [5] MP Kun denied involvement in the protest and fled to New Zealand in July 2016. [6]
In 2016, three of the Nauru 19, John Jeremiah, Josh Kepae, and Job Cecil, plead guilty. After their prison sentences were extended by the Supreme Court of Nauru, they were able to successfully appeal to the High Court of Australia. After the High Court sent the matter back to the Supreme Court, the latter extended the prison sentences again. When the three protestors attempted to appeal to the High Court again, the Nauruan government had severed ties with the High Court on 13 March 2018, days before the due date of the appeal. This effectively removed the final possible avenue for appeal from the three protestors. [1]
After failing to obtain legal representation from Nauru, the Nauru 19 sought it in Australia, and, in 2016, received a five-person legal team, which represented them pro bono . The lawyers sought payment from the Nauruan government. [4] The government passed the Civil Procedures Amendment 2018 in June, which limited, among other things, the maximum legal fees payable per case to US$2,231. Judge Geoff Muecke, an Australian judge contracted to hear the Nauru 19's criminal case, ruled the legislation unconstitutional, and demanded the Nauruan government pay the Australian lawyers the full value of US$166,606 by 29 June. [7] [8] The payment due date passed without comment by the Nauruan government. [9] In early July, the government announced its intention to appeal the ruling against the Civil Procedures Amendment Act. Justice Minister David Adeang found the amount of money ordered by the court to paid to the Australian lawyers to be excessive. [10]
On 30 July 2018, the Nauru 19 asked in court to have the case against them thrown out. Reasons given for this request included the delay to court the case faced earlier, as well as the failure of the government to follow the court order to pay the Nauru 19's lawyers. The government expressed intention to appeal if such a stay was given. [11] The Nauru 19 were granted a permanent stay by Judge Muecke on 13 September. [12] Two days later, the government had announced plans to file an appeal. [13] Judge Muecke's contract had been terminated after he granted the stay, which Muecke claimed was retaliation against the ruling. [14]
In October 2018, three members of the Nauru 19, Batsiua, Squire Jeremiah, and Joram Joram, had their applications for passports denied, despite having been granted a permanent stay. [15] Justice Muecke had explained that during the trial, there was a blacklist implemented by the government against members of the Nauru 19, to impede them in various ways, notably in employment and travel. [16] The government denied that it was blacklisting Nauru 19 members. [17] Some members of the Nauru 19 feared that even after the trial, they were still subject to discrimination under the blacklist. [16] Former President Dabwido believed that this blacklist was denying him access to cancer treatment overseas. In response, he sought asylum in Australia in February 2019. [18] The government denied delaying Dabwido's cancer treatment. By 27 March, Dabwido had arrived in Australia for treatment. [19] Dabwido died in May 2019. [20] Lionel Aingimea succeeded Baron Waqa as president after the election in September 2019. President Aingimea held that the Nauruan government had never interfered with the courts. Members of the Nauru 19 found blacklist restrictions to be loosened under Aingimea's administration. Squire Jeremiah was able to get a passport under the new government. [21]
Initially, the newly formed Nauru Court of Appeals was to hear the government's appeal of the case in December 2018, but the case was delayed until 2019. [22] In June 2019, Judge Daniel Fatiaki on the appeals court overturned both the permanent stay and the voiding of the 2018 Criminal Procedure Amendment Act. [23] The ruling was criticized by Judge Muecke. [7] [24] Also in June, Nauru passed laws which effectively blocked access to international lawyers in Nauruan courts. [25] In September, two members of the Nauru 19, Squire Jeremiah and his cousin Rutherford, had fled to Australia, seeking political asylum there. [26] The retrial of the Nauru 19's case began on 11 November. [24] The Nauru 19 had lost access to their Australian lawyers, and instead, one public defender represented all of 15 of them. [27] [28] The public defender had explained to Judge Fatiaki that it was unreasonable for him to do so. After refusing the Nauru 19 additional legal representation, there was a failed application to have Judge Fatiaki dismissed from the case for bias. [29]
In a verdict delivered on 11 December 2019, the remaining fifteen members of the Nauru 19 were found guilty. Only twelve of them remained in the country to receive their sentence. Eleven defendants were found guilty of rioting, but not of disturbing the legislature. Four defendants were given heavier charges of assaulting police officers. Two of these defendants were also found guilty of accessing restricted security areas. [29] On 19 December, the Nauru 19 were ultimately sentenced by Judge Fatiaki to jail, with terms between three and eleven months. Each of them had their sentences reduced due to the delays in the trial, personal circumstances, and the extrajudicial punishment faced in the form of the blacklist. Some where also given reduced sentences due to their age, with two of the Nauru 19 being minors at the time of the offense. [30]
By April 2020, all of the Nauru 19 had been released from prison. Batsiua had been the last one released. [31]
Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba of Kiribati, about 300 km (190 mi) to the east. It lies northwest of Tuvalu, 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast of Solomon Islands, east-northeast of Papua New Guinea, southeast of the Federated States of Micronesia and south of the Marshall Islands. With an area of only 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi), Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world behind Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest republic as well as the smallest island nation. Its population of about 10,000 is the world's second-smallest, after Vatican City.
The politics of Nauru take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nauru is the head of government of the executive branch. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Kieren Aedogan Ankwong Keke is a Nauruan politician and medical doctor. He is a member of the Parliament of Nauru and former Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
David Waiau Adeang is a Nauruan politician, former Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru, and Nauru's Minister of Finance and Justice, as well as the Minister Assisting the President of Nauru. He is a founding member of the Naoero Amo, currently the only successful political party on the island.
Marcus Ajemada Stephen is a Nauruan politician and former sportsperson who previously was a member of the Cabinet of Nauru, and who served as President of Nauru from December 2007 to November 2011. The son of Nauruan parliamentarian Lawrence Stephen, Stephen was educated at St Bedes College and RMIT University in Victoria, Australia. Initially playing Australian rules football, he opted to pursue the sport of weightlifting, in which he represented Nauru at the Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games between 1990 and 2002, winning seven Commonwealth gold medals.
The Nauru national Australian rules football team, nicknamed the Chiefs, represents Nauru in Australian rules football. Despite its small size and population, Nauru, which is the only country with AFL as its national sport, consistently ranks among the top eight teams in the world.
Frederick William Pitcher is a Nauruan political figure. In December 2007, Pitcher was appointed Minister of Finance of Nauru, to serve in the Administration of President Marcus Stephen.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Nauru:
Parliamentary elections were held in Nauru on April 26, 2008, following the dissolving of Parliament by President Marcus Stephen on April 18. The decision came after what Stephen referred to as "months of political deadlock". Of the parliament's eighteen members, nine supported the Stephen government and nine were in opposition.
Roland Tullen Kun is a Nauruan politician and Member of Parliament.
Baron Divavesi Waqa is a Nauruan politician who was the 14th President of Nauru from 11 June 2013 until 27 August 2019. He previously served as Minister of Education from 2004 to 2007.
Mathew Jansen Batsiua is a Nauruan politician. Batsiua, a former health minister and former foreign minister of Nauru, has served as a member of parliament for the constituency of Boe since 2004.
Sprent Arumogo Dabwido was a Nauruan politician who served as the President of Nauru between 2011 and 2013, and was also a weightlifter. The son of a parliamentarian, Dabwido was originally elected to the Meneng Constituency in the Parliament of Nauru at the 2004 elections. Having served as Minister for Telecommunications in Marcus Stephen's government from 2009, Dabwido joined the Nauruan opposition faction in November 2011 after Stephen's resignation, and, having passed a motion of no confidence against interim president Freddie Pitcher, was elected president four days later. In his role as president, Dabwido functioned as chairman of the Cabinet of Nauru, and held various portfolios in the Nauruan government.
Topics related to Nauru include:
The Supreme Court of Nauru was the highest court in the judicial system of the Republic of Nauru till the establishment of the Nauruan Court of Appeal in 2018.
Nauruan law, since Nauru's independence from Australia in 1968, is derived primarily from English and Australian common law, though it also integrates indigenous customary law to a limited extent. Nauruan common law is founded mainly on statute law enacted by the Parliament of Nauru, and on precedents set by judicial interpretations of statutes, customs and prior precedents.
In January 2014, Nauru's President Baron Waqa fired the country's only magistrate Peter Law, and cancelled the visa of its Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames. Law was fired after issuing an injunction to temporarily halt the deportation of three foreign nationals. Eames issued an injunction in an unsuccessful attempt to temporarily halt Law's deportation. Eames was in Australia at the time and his visa was cancelled, preventing his return to Nauru.
Martin Porky Hunt is a Nauruan politician. Hunt has been a member of Nauruan Parliament and Minister Assisting the President of Nauru and Minister of Finance of Nauru since 29 August 2019. He still holds these positions as of August 2022.
Events in the year 2019 in Nauru.
Events in the year 2018 in Nauru.