Nauru riot accused 'are unlikely to get fair trial'
Charges against more than 150 asylum seekers are more than island's system can cope with, says former justice secretary
Oliver Laughland
The Guardian, Saturday 27 July 2013 02.35 BST
A building damaged by the 19 July riot at the Nauru immigration detention centre. Photograph: Department of Immigration and Citizenship
More than 150 asylum seekers facing criminal charges on Nauru, following a riot at the regional processing centre last Friday, are unlikely to receive a fair trial due to the inability of the legal system to cope, according to a former justice secretary of Nauru.
David Lambourne, who served as justice secretary on the island state between 2010 and 2011, said he believed the criminal justice system was simply unable to cope with such a large volume of complex cases, with the Department of Immigration in Australia also indicating it had no plans to fund the defence costs of the accused.
Lambourne said that public legal defence on Nauru was “woefully inadequate” as it consisted only of seven pleaders, or legal advocates appointed by government with limited legal training.
He said: “These cases are beyond the capacity of the pleaders who are on the island, with all due respect to them. They do not have the legal knowledge to be able to properly defend these accused. And so it’s going to come down to whether any international lawyers are willing to represent these guys on a pro bono basis.”
But a trial potentially involving more than 100 defendants would undoubtedly require a huge amount of pro bono assistance.
Lambourne added: “An effective justice system requires the accused people be given proper representation so their defence can be effectively argued. If they [the accused] continued to be represented by the pleaders, then they are not going to be effectively represented. The pleaders are going to be up against prosecutors who are lawyers and it’s an unequal challenge.
“It’s simply a reflection of the fact that the legal profession in Nauru is woefully inadequate for anything that is even remotely complicated,” he said.
The Nauru Bulletin, a state newsletter released every fortnight, confirmed that 152 asylum seekers in court will be charged with a range of offences, including riot and unlawful assembly as well as some arson on public building charges. The accused are being seen in the Nauru district court in groups of 10, with the first hearing held on Thursday, and an expectation for them to continue all through next week.
Lambourne said that the arson charges would present additional difficulties as they would need to be heard in a higher court.
The bulletin says that, at present, the asylum seekers charged with offences are being represented by “court-appointed lawyers”. It reports that the magistrate hearing the cases has advised prosecution lawyers that “if the state cannot accommodate the detainees, there will be no choice but to grant bail”, indicating that some of the accused could be returned to regional processing on the island next month.
Joanna Olsson, director of the Nauruan government’s Information Office, said she was unaware of any request from the Nauruan government to Australia for legal defence assistance in the hearings. But a spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration said the criminal proceedings were “a matter for the Nauruan government”.
Daniel Webb, a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre in Melbourne said: “The right to a fair trial is protected under international law, and also under the Nauruan constitution. Access to legal representation is a key component of that right.
“Australia can’t have it both ways. We can’t employ Nauru as an agent of our domestic policy, but then hide behind Nauru’s sovereignty when that suits us. Australia transferred these asylum seekers to Nauru, it’s Australia’s responsibility to make sure their human rights are respected post-transfer.”
