Christopher Thomas Pryde - the venal, white red face of Fijian despotism
Christopher Thomas Pryde is a disgrace. This grubby scum should be disbarred and his NZ passport canceled forthwith. He is an enemy of democracy and of this country. Christopher Thomas Pryde will have to be held to account for his actions - and if he scuttles back to this country he should be sent back to Fiji to face the music as the conspirator to treason that he is - undoubtedly. If the cunt cares so much for Fiji the shit head can stay there - forever, and preferably in prison along with Speight and all the other usurpers. We should not harbour this international criminal.
He is a tool of and now key figure in the dictatorship. The prick is already attending international conferences representing Fiji, along with his military entourage:
The Solicitor-General, Mr Christopher Pryde will be among those attending a security governance meeting organised by the United Nations Development Programme – Pacific Centre and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Tonga.
Mr Pryde, as well as Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Commander Viliame Naupoto accompany Minister for Defence, Ratu Epeli Ganilau and will be leaving early tomorrow (28/04/09) morning. The high-level meeting starts today and ends on Thursday (30/04/09).
This is a man who has accepted the role of Solicitor-General in an illegal regime. This is the man who will protect the military PM from the murder charges he was facing before his coup (the first coup - not this latest one) for ordering the summary execution of troops involved in a mutiny. He is taking orders from and shielding a murder suspect amongst other things.
Christopher Thomas Pryde is the type of creature who gives lawyers a bad name. He is an abomination to his profession.
He took up the case to defend the illegal regime and then was appointed S-G in July 2007:
Asked if he had any qualms about taking a role in the military Government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Mr Pryde said his position was not political.
"I am a lawyer and it's as a public servant really. I provide legal advice to the Attorney-General. It's really a lawyer-client relationship."
[...]
"It's a good opportunity for me personally."
What an evil fucking piece of shit. What a venal arsehole of the first order. He deserves to be summarily executed and/or tortured in the same way other victims of the military have under the aegis of his protection - that is the fate he courts. Let that day come soon.
As a New Zealand citizen, Mr Pryde cannot be banned from entering New Zealand under travel sanctions imposed on Fijian officials by the Government in Wellington
Well strip him of his NZ citizenship then. Now. Forthwith. He's made his bed in Fiji and he should lie in it.
From one of the few news outlets still operating in Fiji - and no doubt someone who will be prosecuted under his name should they ever be captured:
This is the man who ran out of words when his counter argument for a stay order at the Qarase vs Frank & Co.s appeals court hearing was flung back at him by the three judges.His face was red and his voice loud but shaky as he threw his weak trump card down.
Now that he is officially back with the new order crowd, one can easily predict what to expect from this clown Pryde - he will be back with a more vengeful and vindictive heart.
So, he's a shit lawyer, arguing a shit case for a shit regime. He loses. He's out. They stage another coup. Then he's back in again. What a sick joke. He acts against the rule of law and yet assumes the office of Solicitor-General!? Sickening.
Fiji Attorney-General's OfficeHis immediate boss - the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is the real power behind the throne in the regime. I suspect he is the major influence here. He is the one directing the legal anarchy behind the scenes. He is a slimy character.
Labels: Fiji: Coup 5.0
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 11:40 am
16 comments
16 Comments:
Isn't Fiji a constitutionally independent sovereign nation? What right do foreigners like you Tim have to interfere with what is an internal matter.
You're always going on about colonisation in NZ. The imposition of democracy bypassing the traditional goverence structures if the indigenous fijians is simply imperialism in drag.
This is an unwarranted and extremely vicious attack on a fine individual. Chris is one of nature's true gentleman and has the highest of ethics.
I know for a fact that he took this position to help the people of Fiji, not to further the aims of the regime. He is a very good lawyer, and is working with the assistance of some extremely good lawyers, most notably Gerard McCoy QC. Gerard is a seriously good lawyer, so don't denigrate counsel who you don't know.
While the actions of the regime and its leader may not be the wisest, or even legal (depending on your reading of the Fiji Constitution), I know for a fact that Chris will be totally independent and will act both fairly and with honour.
The fact is that corruption was rife under the former government and the people of Fiji was sick of it. The current regime still enjoys widespread support from the ordinary working people because they can see that the officials who were guilty of corruption are in fact being prosecuted for it now.
While I accept you can criticise his involvement with the regime, lay off the man himself because you have no idea just how good a person he is.
@ Anon 1:34pm -- Uhhh NO Fiji is not constitutionally independent anymore. Bainimarama abrogated the constitution on Easter Friday.
And democracy is also very much enmeshed in our traditional processes. It just depends on the path you take.
@ Anon 2:07pm -- Take it from a native Fijian this imbecile citizen of yours is a disgrace to your country and to the legal profession.
If he's such a hot lawyer then please let him offer his warped legal services there in Aotearoa -- that's if anyone will pay him for it. We believe in true rule of law over here.
Brilliant post btw Tumeke.
"Uhhh NO Fiji is not constitutionally independent anymore. Bainimarama abrogated the constitution on Easter Friday."
It was actually referring to Tim's insistence that the Maori occupation of NZ post 1840 was an intact state capable of being recognised as such and therefore should not have been subject to colonisation and imperialism -like he appears to be doing to Fiji though I doubt he would see the irony in his hypocrisy
China likes to describe its systems as an exercise in 'direct democracy' so they could plausibly argue under your "just depends on the path you take" idea that it is.
A couple of points here.
Tim Selwyn has writen a number of blog articles on a couple of topics such as Fiji and South Africa where his knowledge base seems quite limited. I was apalled by his level of naiivity he displayed around the South African election. I get the same sort of feeling when I read this posting.
Regardless of the lack of democracy prevalent in Fiji at the moment the question is what steps should be taken to move the country towards the desirable goal of democratic governance and what that actually means.
I see no real purpose in trying to create villains and set up future witch hunts in the current Fiji situation. Certainly the previous regime that Bainimarama over threw was neither Democratic or effective.
The best bet would be to apply diplomatic pressure on the regime following a carrot and stick approach. This is what worked in places like Northern Ireland and also is being followed in Zimbabwe. Perhaps we can learn from these.
Anon 3:34/1:34 -
Tim's insistence that the Maori occupation of NZ post 1840 was an intact state capable of being recognised as such and therefore should not have been subject to colonisation and imperialismThis post is about Fiji - not NZ. It was the British that actually insisted it was a sovereign state and they recognised the Northern United tribes to do that. The assertion that NZ should not have been subject to colonisation/imperialism is not dependent on the legal structure or definition of the sovereign entities so colonised.
Anon: 2:07 -
unwarranted and extremely vicious attack on a fine individual. Chris is one of nature's true gentleman and has the highest of ethics.- No. It is warranted by his actions and his behaviour to date - it is fully justified. He is not a "fine individual" in light of the plain facts and the choices he has made to support a dictatorship.
His ethics are in shreds - absolute rags in which he cannot clad himself with any sense of decency.
I know for a fact that he took this position to help the people of Fiji, not to further the aims of the regime.- No. He said (in the NZ Herald article linked to) that:
"It's a good opportunity for me personally."
That is one of his motivating factors to which he himself has confessed.
He also has backed the dictatorship from the start and if you know the facts (or at least have read the articles linked to) you will know that as a fact he went in to bat for the regime in court. He then worked for the regime as an official and then after he lost the regime's case he takes up the role of Solicitor-General again in what is an illegal, unconstitutional government.
The fact is that corruption was rife under the former government and the people of Fiji was sick of it.
[...]
the officials who were guilty of corruption are in fact being prosecuted for it now.- No. Spurious nonsense about fighting corruption - when people have been killed and harassed by the regime with legal impunity - is laughable as a defence. Laughable.
The military has stacked the civil service with its officer cronies - one of whom is baby-sitting him and the purported Defence Minister at an international conference as we speak. LAUGHABLE.
Bainimarama introduces a sweeping 50 years old retirement age to take effect on Thursday when he himself turned fifty yesterday! As a mechanism to get rid of the senior civil servants who dare object to the abandonment of the rule of law and the constitution. And this is not corruption? L-A-U-G-H-A-B-L-E.
Bainimarama staged his first coup to avoid murder charges over the barracks mutiny and executions - presumably the prosecuting authority ultimately lies with the A-G and his CEO the Solicitor-General and they are actively collaborating with the offender. Talk about joke time: LOL.
lay off the man himself because you have no idea just how good a person he is.The evidence - his record and his own words - suggests that I have formed an accurate idea about just how good a person he is. He's a cunt, and I do not retract a single word about Christopher Thomas Pryde.
Sorry Anon but corruption was not rife you are believing the hype, if anything corruption is now worse under this illegal regime.
Tim, If you had any commitment to democracy you wouldn't be insisting on Crown sanctioned race based representation for the new super district in Auckland.
"He is an enemy of democracy and of this country."
Once you insist on the same being dealt out to Tame Iti and the rest of the Tuhoe scum then maybe you'll have some credibility.
tim,
why don't you write an aricle on what we should do,
surely New Zealand has enough power to influence FGiJi
Gosman - you are choosing to be a cock at this point. I can see now why my co-blogger has barely any patience for you.
There is little else left to adequately describe you in relation to the nature, content, tenor and motivations of your comments - they are cock-like. If you step in here you better come armed with some quotes and some research rather than swanning around, mouthing off, with nothing, because you come across as a hypocrite as well as a cock.
Tim Selwyn has writen a number of blog articles on a couple of topics such as Fiji and South Africa where his knowledge base seems quite limited. I was apalled by his level of naiivity he displayed around the South African election. I get the same sort of feeling when I read this posting.That feeling you get is your prejudice staring down the barrel of some research. If that makes you uncomfortable start informing yourself before commenting so your own ignorance isn't so bloody obvious. You offer zero basis for what you assert - something you accuse me of - and that makes you something of a hypocrite does it not?
I see no real purpose in trying to create villains and set up future witch hunts in the current Fiji situation. Certainly the previous regime that Bainimarama over threw was neither Democratic or effective.They are villains, they have created themselves as such. Government's that operate with impunity without any fear of consequences are prone to human rights abuses and the current mob in Fiji has demonstrated that. Certainly Bainimarama's regime (as if comparison was necessary) is 100% undemocratic. And effective? When they intimidate and censor the media it is hard to know how effective they are at anything - they must report good news. Effective? - in so far as they are doing things like sacking the judiciary and forcing widespread sackings in the public service under the guise of a retirement age change. Is that the sort of effectiveness of which you refer? The regime is so "effective" the UN has just told them (I just saw this on TV news) that their military is no longer eligible for their missions. Tres effective.
The best bet would be to apply diplomatic pressure on the regime following a carrot and stick approach. This is what worked in places like Northern Ireland and also is being followed in Zimbabwe. Perhaps we can learn from these.There you go, Gosman - that's all you had to say. All that other guff you added in there makes you a look like a cock.
Choose not to be a cock FFS. And if you are going to attempt to put the boot in, do it properly - if you can't throw my own words back in my face, assisted with some links/research/facts of your own then you can expect these sorts of comments in response.
Now as far as this Pryde character goes I urge those who have not seen William Shatner's best movie to watch it - 'Judgement at Nuremberg'. It deals with the trial of the senior Nazi judiciary and justice officials and touches upon many points that you and others have raised in relation to decisions, ethics, accountability and actions of officials in a dictatorship.
Anon 6:56 -
Tim, If you had any commitment to democracy you wouldn't be insisting on Crown sanctioned race based representation for the new super district in Auckland.I've made it clear that the Maori communities (and they signed the originating constitutional document that guaranteed them their autonomy under the protection of the UK) should have some form of representation in any local government that purports to have authority over their land. This is not a "race" issue - this is about the right of the autonomous communities that were generous enough to allow the Crown to set up base here in the first place to participate in the local governance structure. I am not in favour of using the Maori Parliamentary roll to do this, as there is a strong argument that that mechanism is "race based" (and one created and operated by Pakeha for their advantage what's more). But we can have that discussion on another post.
This about Fiji.
One of the tactics of the illegal junta in Fiji is to try and make diversionary comments. Can we stick to Fiji and to Chris Pryde?
And to Anon at 2.07. I appreciate you might want to defend one of the sleezes of Christchurch, but can you give us some substance on which you make your claim? Ethical? Gentleman? Helping the people of Fiji?
Are you related to the man?
The comments made about Chris Pryde although viscious are based on the ACTIONS of the man. If they are somewhat at odds to the man you appear to know that is unfortunate (for you). Thankfully for Chris, you appear to have known him as a seriously good lawyer and as some sort of noble saviour of the people - that's great. He's going to need friends because he'll be pushing a hell of a lot of shit uphill. Others know him as a grubbly little self-serving pratt primarily concerned with his own image and advancement and about as genuine as a Chinese Rolex.
Tim - not to be confused with the author
OK.
You want a solution - a start to a solution - let's rock:
We have to find a judge in Fiji who holds a warrant under the 1997 constitution to order an extradition warrant for Christopher Thomas Pryde to stand trial for treason (or whatever is a non-death penalty extraditable offence) as a person who has sworn a treasonous oath (as the Raw Fiji News described it) and then we need to send this warrant to the NZ authorities who will act on it - and as soon as that creep lands on NZ soil he will be arrested and held in prison pending that trial in Fiji which must take place under a recognised regime in Fiji and therefore he will be held in jail in NZ until that time - when the dictatorship ends.
How's that for a sentence?
He will seek a bail hearing, being a lawyer he would expect it to be granted, but I believe that the Crown's argument and the absolute repugnance for the abuse of the law in order to further a military dictatorship will be so strong on the bench that they will send this guy straight back to Mt Eden until there is a government in Fiji that is recognised by the NZ government.
McCully and Key should both make statements that they will put these NZ collaborators into prison should they dare come back here. This will be a very firm isolation measure that at least stops our people adding to the problems by sustaining them.
Fiji civil servants may be trying to boycott this regime and not take illegal oaths to an illegitimate military dictatorship in order to bring it down and restore democracy. So why should NZ stand by and let its cretinous, evil citizens fill those positions? Why would the NZ government allow it's citizen's to be the mortar that holds the dictatorship together?
They have to get this guy. He should be in the cell next to George Speight. We can't allow him one day of freedom in this country - let alone Fiji.
We need to lure him here - using his own greed and bloated sense of self importance as bait... what about a knighthood? Look at that toad - he'll slither through the bayonets of his military henchmen to grasp that bauble won't he. Let's make it ironic... for the guardianship of constitutionality, the stewardship and upholding of the rule of law and democracy in the South Pacific, and for services to the Fijian judiciary. Yeah? C'mangeeeeettiiiiiitt...
Alright maybe it could never be that beautiful but can it not be done in some way? I think he will crawl back to this rock of his own accord most likely.
We down with this?
We down with this Fiji?
We down with this Aotearoa?
We down with this!
Let's get this bastard. Let's show him how it's done in the real world - the one that he rejects and conspires against. Let's do it old school, let's do it over here - with a judiciary you can't sack just because you fucked up your court case; and a system you can't just completely redesign unilaterally and have proclaimed as law because you can't handle being a loser.
Christopher Thomas Pryde is a legal midget. A tin-pot lawyer in a tin-pot regime.
Collaborating with Bainimarama's "new order" will prove even more inconvenient than wearing a full business suit in Suva; and - as everything he has done thus far - it is purely and entirely a voluntary decision on his part, even an enthusiastic one.
He's a wanted man from this point.
answer for his crimes! what a fucking laugh people!
fiji is simply showing us what happens when a country just dosnt listen to the big whitey lead teams and just says fuck it, just because you dont like us dosnt mean we care. its pretty obvious the chinese are behind the coup belive this needs to pay a quick simple visit to rarotonga and see the brand new police and courts buildings amongst the run down island and youll see that they love interfering with the pacific rim
I think while the language may be a bit strong the crticism of Pryde is just.
If he is a good man then he should of kept right out of this one. He has been bluffed into thinking the cause is just. He is a man who knows NOTHING about the Fiji way of life and its thinking and passes judgement from his ignorant kaivulagi background.
Sorry to those who think he is OK. Clearly he is NOT..
@Anonymous 5:42AM. I guess like many of his ilk, some cosy little retirement on an idyllic "Pacific Isle" is preferable to one that involves hanging around bogs in Hagley Park.
And anonymous @ 4:08: I'm afraid the whitey shit doesn't wash in this whole sorry saga.
If whitey didn't even give a shit, you'd still be left with a Pryde propping up a junta that is systematically doing it's best to destroy each and every indigenous institution in the country in the name of fairness.
Sorry, but it ain't the whitey that's the villain in this piece - it's just the example he once set that is being used as the means to enable strictly selfish agendas at the expense of an entire population. (Same shit, just a different stink).
I fear you've fallen in love with the process (the fight for the cause) rather than the cause itself. OR as Maria Muldaur once said - it ain't the meat - it's the motion.
Or to put it another way, you're being a fucking egg.
The issue here was actually about Chris Pryde, and the guy is a jerk whichever way you size the little prick up - with apologies to those related that konw him as a caring and sharing wonderful example of humanity.
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