SUVA, Fiji (3 July 2001) -- Fiji's murdered Red Cross director, John Scott, recently told a friend he was under pressure not to testify in the treason trial against failed coup plotter George Speight. Mr Scott and his companion Gregory Scrivener were murdered on Sunday by an unknown attacker. Police admit they have no obvious leads and have launched a public campaign seeking information. They also confirm they are interviewing Fiji military forces members. Mr Scott played a key role last year when Speight seized Parliament on May 19 and took Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his Government hostage for 56 days. For the first week or so, Mr Scott was the only outsider allowed to see the hostages and he set up a system for mail and food parcels to move between the hostages and their families. Last week he was involved in a successful fundraising campaign to send a 12-year-old boy to Melbourne, Australia, for life-saving brain surgery. | | Racist rebel leader George Speight A relative of the boy, Qalo Sukabula, said he went to see Mr Scott last Thursday. "When I went in he asked me if I had noticed a slimy character who had just left his office, I said no. "[Mr] Scott then said the man had been trying to convince him not to testify against him during the trial," the relative said. Coup investigation chief Waisea Takakau said they had interviewed Mr Scott, and whether he was to have been a state witness was up to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Department of Public Prosecutions office would not comment. |
