Judgment for PM and A-G’s defamation case set for July

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The hearing for the defamation matter between Fiji Labour Party candidate Aman Ravindra-Singh and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was called before the High Court in Suva today.

Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum are both suing Mr Ravindra-Singh for defamation.

Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s lawyer Devanesh Sharma said during the proceeding that he had filed extensive legal submissions that explained and contained complete discussions in the matter.

Mr Sharma produced Mr Ravindra-Singh’s recent posts on his Facebook page as evidence.

In response, Mr Ravindra-Singh said the post print-outs had nothing to do with the case.

Mr Sharma added that Mr Singh was still taking snide shots at his clients and Mr Singh was continuing to use hashtags “#Korrupt Khaiyum and #ViolentVoreqe”.

Mr Sharma said Mr Ravindra-Singh had not shown any remorse and he continued to refer to the plaintiffs the same way.

In response, Mr Singh objected to the evidence put before the court and argued that it was his free speech and that the evidence was highly prejudicial and should not be accepted by the court.

Mr Ravindra-Singh is alleged to have used offending words in a Facebook post in 2018 titled Regime Dirty Politics.

The judgment on this case would be made on July 24.

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