Ignore amnesty, say Fiji prosecutors

Prosecutors in Fiji have called for the amnesty offered to the rebel leader George Speight and his supporters to be ignored.

One of the prosecuting team Rachel Olutimayin told a court in Suva that the agreement which ended the siege of the Fijian parliament had been signed by the army commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama under duress.

She also said the rebels had failed to return all the weapons used in the uprising -- another condition of the amnesty deal.

Mr Speight appeared in court with twelve of his followers; they've been accused of relatively minor offences including fire arms charges and unlawful assembly, but prosecutors have said Mr Speight is likely to be charged with treason. He and his supporters held the ethnic-Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, hostage with many of his ministers, calling for political power to be reserved for indigenous Fijians.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service