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Constitutional challenge starts in the Supreme Court [1]

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Monday, August 30, 2004 - 17:17.  Updated on Monday, May 5, 2014 - 17:03.

A Judicial Review challenging the Amendment to Clause 7 of the Tongan Constitution last year, started in the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court this afternoon.

A total of 173 plaintiffs, including individual citizens, businesses, Members of Parliament and a news organisation, filed for a Judicial Review, claiming that the Amendment of Clause 7 and the introduction of restrictive media laws by government was unconstitutional.

The hearing was presided over by Mr Justice Webster. The counsel for the plaintiffs was Rodney Eric Harrison, from New Zealand, and representing the Crown were Paul Radich and 'Aminiasi Kefu.

The hearing was due to start at 9 a.m. but was delayed until 2 p.m. because of the late arrival of the defendant's lawyer Paul Radich from New Zealand this morning. An Air New Zealand flight was delayed due to unsettled weather over Tonga.

The first witnesses called by the plaintiff's counsel during the afternoon were Pesi Fonua, the chairman of the Media Council Inc. of Tonga, and Mateni Tapueluelu, Editor of the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper.

The hearing is scheduled for five days.
 

Nuku‘alofa Supreme Court [2]
From the Courts [3]
Source URL:https://matangitonga.to/2004/08/30/constitutional-challenge-starts-supreme-court

Links
[1] https://matangitonga.to/2004/08/30/constitutional-challenge-starts-supreme-court [2] https://matangitonga.to/tag/nuku%E2%80%98alofa-supreme-court?page=1 [3] https://matangitonga.to/topic/courts?page=1