Civil Court strikes out Chaudhry’s application

The Civil High Court has dismissed and struck out Rajendra Chaudhry’s application for stay on the judgment and sentence delivered by the High Court in April and May last year.

Chaudhry was convicted for making defamatory comments on Facebook against the former Chief Justice Anthony Gates, Judge Justice Yohan Liyanage and the Fijian Judiciary as a whole.

He filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal and filed a stay of execution on the judgment and sentence to be stayed pending the determination of the appeal on the preliminary issue of jurisdiction and thereafter the substantive issue of the committal proceedings as issued by the applicant/respondent and any other orders that the court may deemed just and expedient in the circumstances along with costs in the cause. Acting Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ordered that:

■ Applicant’s (Chaudhry) application for stay filed on June 19, 2019, is dismissed and struck out;

■ Applicant (Chaudhry) do pay respondent’s (AttorneyGeneral) costs assessed in the sum of $1000 within 21 days from yesterday.

ASHNA KUMAR