Tonga is disappointed with the United States Government's decision to dismiss Tonga's extradition request for American, Dean Jay Fletcher (54), who is wanted in Tonga on the charge of murdering his wife in July 2016, in Vava'u.

Acting Attorney General 'Aminiasi Kefu said today, Tonga does not agree with the reasoning that Fletcher will "not receive a fair trial" as claimed by the U.S. government.

The Tonga Government had last year sought Fletcher's extradition for the offences of murder, manslaughter, and inflicting grievous bodily harm.

But the US Secretary of State had determined last week that Fletcher could not be guaranteed a fair trial in Tonga because he did not have funds to defend himself.

Fair trial

'Aminiasi said at the end of the day, Tonga still has an active indictment and arrest warrant against Fletcher and will still pursue it in the interests of justice.

"Since we cannot appeal, as there is no appeal right or process, Tonga will still pursue extradition if he goes to another country," he said.

"Tonga does not agree with the reasoning that Fletcher will not receive a fair trial."

The Acting Attorney General said that before Fletcher absconded, he had already hired two lawyers, both senior, one from Tonga and New Zealand.

"Fletcher also has a yacht that he could use to secure funding for lawyers. More importantly, the Tongan Government currently does not provide Government funded lawyers for its own citizens facing criminal trials, so why should it do different for him," he said.

“So we are disappointed that the U.S Government did not accept those circumstances as enough. Tonga is not renown for breaching fair trial procedures and it is basically non-existent for the appellate Courts in Tonga to rule that any trials in the Supreme Court, especially criminal trials, in Tonga have not been conducted fairly."

"We have eminent legal jurists from New Zealand in the Supreme Court, who at all times conduct trials fairly and independently and have never been found to do otherwise," he said.

The murder victim was a Canadian citizen, Patricia Linne Kearney.