Police in Papua New Guinea have charged the country’s Chief Justice with sedition after a dramatic attempt to arrest him in court.
A group of policeman and soldiers stormed into Sir Salamo Injia’s courtroom late yesterday, led by PNG’s deputy Prime Minister Beldan Namah.
Our sister station, NAU FM reports that the soldiers and police officers attempted to arrest the Chief Justice while he was hearing a Supreme Court case, but Sir Salamo fled to a separate room in the chambers and locked himself in.
After more than two hours of negotiations, police escorted him to a courtroom for a formal interview.
Radio Australia report that he is now charged with sedition and released on bail.
He is expected to appear in a committal court later this morning.
In a statement, PNG police commissioner Tom Kulunga said the attempted arrest follows a complaint made by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she has spoken with O’Neill to express her concern about the latest developments.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has also contacted the PNG government and urged it not to take action against Sir Salamo.
He said the PNG government should ignore any decisions they resent from the judiciary and press ahead with the elections.
The crisis came to a head when on Monday, Sir Salamo and two other Supreme Court judges ruled for the second time that Sir Michael Somare is the nation’s constitutional prime minister.
O’Neill has called the ruling illegal because two of the five judges on the bench abstained from the decision.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
