Tonga Supreme Court postpones trials to January 2007 [1]
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 15:19. Updated on Monday, May 19, 2014 - 19:07.
The Tonga Supreme Court has postponed all of its trials and hearings to January 15, 2007.
A spokesperson from the Supreme Court office said today, that the postponement was due to the current restrictions on movement in the Nuku'alofa central business area since the morning of Friday November 17.
This means that all trials and hearings that were scheduled to appear before the Tongan Chief Justice Anthony Ford from November 16 onwards are now postponed to next year.
The Supreme Court office said that initially they were looking for an alternative hearing place outside the restricted areas, possibly at the Queen Salote Memorial Hall, "but it was inspected and found to be unsafe in terms of its security, so it was decided that it would be wise that all Supreme Court cases should be postponed to January 15, 2007," said the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, most of the Supreme Court staff has been relocated to the Tonga National Center at Tofoa with only a few still remaining at the main office in central Nuku'alofa.
Magistrate's Court
Since November 16 the Nuku'alofa Magistrate's Court has not been holding any trials or hearings, but a new date has been set for the resumption of hearing early next month at the Tonga National Center. The Tongan government closes for its Christmas holidays on December 22.