The Nauru 19 seek to have charges thrown out

Transcript

MATHEW BATSIUA:  Following the decision from Judge Muecke we were expecting and hoping that the government would abide by the ruling and pay the funds that they were ordered to pay so that the pre-trial and the trial can proceed as scheduled. But all that has come to a stop now as the payment from the government was not forthcoming. And so we have instructed our lawyers and they have made a submission to the courts for the whole matter to be stayed, given the non-compliance and given the non- payment. So that has been scheduled for July 30th, so we are expecting our lawyers to arrive and expecting the judge to come back to Nauru to hear that. So that's next on the agenda for us.

DON WISEMAN: When you say stayed you mean permanently stayed?

MB: Yes we have put in a notice of motion to the courts to have our matter permanently stayed on the basis that it has taken a long time and also on the basis of the recent development where the judge had ordered the government to pay the legal fees of our lawyers to enable the trial to proceed. And the government has not and so on thoses bases we made an application for the permanent stay of the who matter.    

DW: If you do get a permanent stay that means effectively that all of this legal carry on, going back over three years now,  that will go?

MB: Yes. Permanent stay means that everything is permanently stayed.

DW: Who  will be hearing that application? Will it be Judge Muecke?

MB: Yes. So he is the trial judge, so he is judge that has responsibility for this matter, So there is an application for a permanent stay, given the non payment and all that, the history of the case - we will go before him for him to consider our application. Our application is simply to have a permanent stay given the length of time and given the non-compliance of  government, and they haven't paid.  

Meanwhile, the Nauru government has established the island's own court of appeal after it ended links to Australia's highest court. New rules governing the conduct of appeals were published last week by the president of the Court of Appeal,  Nauru Chief Justice, Filimone Jitoko. Other members of the court who remain to be sworn into office include the Chief Justice of Solomon Islands, Sir Albert Palmer, the Chief Justice of Kirbati, Sir John Muria, and  Vincent Lunabek, the Chief Justice of Vanuatu. The government says the new court of appeal is expected to be fully functional by October this year.