The Commonwealth Law Association together with the Law Association of Asia and the Pacific have jointly called on the Fiji Government to adhere to the rule of law and allow legal practitioners to be independent as per the norms and standards of the profession.
In a statement issued earlier, both the CLA and LAWASIA said they had received reports that both the President of the Fiji Law Society Wylie Clarke and immediate past president Laurel Vaurasi were to be arrested and have called this abhorrent.
This stems from the current debacle surrounding the alleged controversial recommendations contained in the Commission of Inquiry report put together by Commissioner and Supreme Court Judge Justice David Ashton-Lewis.
Justice Ashton-Lewis, in a radio podcast made reference to the COI recommendations which have yet to be made public, and is still with President and the Prime Minister.
Reports have emerged that five lawyers and three senior members of the judiciary are among the nine people implicated by the COI.
“The CLA and LAWASIA call upon the authorities in Fiji :
To be publicly accountable in their decision making. to adhere to the rule of law, and the international norms and standards on the independence of the legal profession and bar associations.”
“To respect the role and independence of the FLS, and to enable the FLS to discharge its statutory functions, to ensure that its officers are able to perform their duties free from intimidation, interference, or reprisal.”
In a statement released yesterday, the Fiji Law Society called for the resignation of Justice Ashton-Lewis calling his podcast unethical and wrong.
“The Fiji Law Society calls on Justice Ashton-Lewis himself to either resign from the Supreme Court of Fiji or that he faces disciplinary proceedings under s.112 of the Constitution of Fiji 2013.”
“Considerable time and money, believed to run into the millions of dollars, has been spent on the COI. The post-COI process has descended into chaos. Those persons (according to the Commissioner himself, nine) criticized in the COI Report have had no access to the COI report and its findings so they cannot defend themselves from what it says.”
The Commonwealth Lawyers Association further said lawyers rights to practice freely are being encroached upon.
“Recent reports raise concerns that Mr. Clarke and Ms. Vaurasi may face charges for obstructing justice and/or perverting the course of justice in connection with the events on 5 Sept 2024.”
“The preferring of any such charges would be abhorrent as this would be contrary to international standards and norms that safeguard the role of lawyers and bar associations.”
“The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Havana, Cuba, in 1990, state at paragraph 16:
“Governments shall ensure that lawyers
(a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; … and
(c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.”
