Samoa's former prime minister looks set to face additional contempt citations in a Supreme Court hearing against him.
Samoa's former PM Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) leader and former PM Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi is to appear for his role in preventing parliament from convening on 24 May, following the April general election
The attorney general Savalenoa Mareva Betham-Annandale, the former speaker of parliament, and its clerk are also to answer for their parts in the events.
But a lawyer for the now-ruling FAST party said there will be additional citations against Tuila'epa.
The Supreme Court had ordered parliament must sit to meet constitutional requirements. But the incoming FAST party government was prevented from doing so on the orders of Tuila'epa.
As the events have unfolded Tuila'epa has levelled serious ongoing claims at the judiciary.
FAST legal advisor Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu said Tuila'epa had made contemptuous comments: "In relation to judges since the twenty-eighth of July.
"So we will be filing further motions for citations for the existing contemnors I think they're called... but also we may be adding two or three."
Former Attorney General Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu, right, leads the FAST party legal team. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Tipi Autagavaia
The case against the four will be heard by newly appointed judges from New Zealand so as to avoid any conflicts of interest.
The judges, Justices Robert Fisher, Peter Blanchard, Rhys Harrison, Rodney Hansen and Raynor Asher have been appointed for two year terms.
Yesterday another milestone was reached in settling the post-election disputes, with the last decision of 28 legal petitions that were filed against the winners of parliamentary seats. HRPP lost nearly a third of its seats in the challenges.
