Coup Leader’s Death Sentence Is Commuted
Hours after he was sentenced to death for treason, coup leader George Speight was spared when Fiji’s president commuted his sentence to life in prison.
President Josefa Iloilo commuted the sentence because of Speight’s surprise guilty plea, Atty. Gen. Qoriniasi Bale said. People sentenced to life in prison in Fiji usually serve 10 years.
Speight led the armed overthrow of Fiji’s first ethnic Indian-led government, seizing Parliament in May 2000 and taking the prime minister, most Cabinet ministers and other lawmakers hostage.
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