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Fiji military regime appoints judges
Agence France Presse - May 22, 2009
Fiji's military regime has reappointed the country's chief justice and named three other judges, six weeks after scrapping the constitution and sacking the judiciary, local reports said.
Judge Anthony Gates was on Friday sworn in as chief justice in a ceremony while two other judges were returned as judges and a lawyer was appointed as a new judge, the Fijilive news service said.
Fiji's justice system has largely come to a halt since April 10, when Voreqe Bainimarama's regime sacked the South Pacific nation's judges, abolished the constitution and said elections to restore democracy would not be held until 2014.
The sackings came a day after Fiji's Court of Appeal found that Bainimarama's regime was illegally appointed after the military chief toppled the elected government in a December 2006 coup.
The Court of Appeal decision overturned an earlier decision by the High Court under Judge Gates, which had ruled the regime's appointment was legal.
The regime last month reappointed a number of magistrates but higher courts have not been able to sit in the absence of judges.
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