HIGH Court judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe is set to deliver his verdict next Tuesday after the three assessors returned with a unanimous not guilty opinion against three senior officials of The Fiji Times, a letter writer and the Fiji Times Ltd yesterday.
After three weeks of trial, Justice Rajasinghe will decide on whether the alleged seditious article that was published in the Nai Lalakai newspaper on April 27, 2016 was seditious and if it had an intention to cause feelings of ill will and hostility between different classes of the Fijian population.
The Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley together with Nai Lalakai editor Anare Ravula are each charged with one count each of aiding and abetting the publication of a seditious article, while Fiji Times Ltd publisher Hank Arts is charged with one count of publishing a seditious article in the Nai Lalakai and letter writer Josaia Waqabaca is charged with one count of submitting for publication an article written by him
with a seditious intention, while Fiji Times Ltd is charged with one count of printing a seditious publication.
While summing up the case, Justice Rajasinghe reminded the assessors that their main task was to assess and evaluate the evidence that was provided by all witnesses and to determine its credibility, reliability and truthfulness.
For more on this story pick up today’s The Fiji Times.
