PNGBLOGS

NATIONAL REPORTS SERIOUS breaches of human rights by police in Popondetta have prompted the senior provincial magistrate there, William Noki, to suspend all court cases before him. Noki, Northern’s only magistrate, refused on Monday to hear any more court cases prosecuted by the Popondetta police in protest of what he termed “serious human rights abuse and violation of the law by police”. And he gave the police an ultimatum: “If your behaviour continues, I will have no choice but to dismiss cases against suspects who claim they had been tortured or brutalised by police”. Before a crowded Popondetta court room of prominent citizens, journalists, non-governmental organisation representatives and police personnel, Noki said: “This not a police state.” “We live in a democratic country and the rule of law must prevail. “It is the responsibility of police to make arrests, and not behave like mobsters. “I am tired of cases of people being taken into custody and their rights abused. “Police h

NATIONAL REPORTS SERIOUS breaches of human rights by police in Popondetta have prompted the senior provincial magistrate there, William Noki, to suspend all court cases before him. Noki, Northern’s only magistrate, refused on Monday to hear any more court cases prosecuted by the Popondetta police in protest of what he termed “serious human rights abuse and violation of the law by police”. And he gave the police an ultimatum: “If your behaviour continues, I will have no choice but to dismiss cases against suspects who claim they had been tortured or brutalised by police”. Before a crowded Popondetta court room of prominent citizens, journalists, non-governmental organisation representatives and police personnel, Noki said: “This not a police state.” “We live in a democratic country and the rule of law must prevail. “It is the responsibility of police to make arrests, and not behave like mobsters. “I am tired of cases of people being taken into custody and their rights abused. “Polic

NATIONAL REPORTS A SENIOR judge yesterday expressed disappointment over the inadequate penalty for those found guilty of committing rape and incest. Waigani National Court’s Justice Panuel Mogish said such offences were serious and had carried a maximum penalty of life imprisonment but Parliament, in its own wisdom, cut it down to a maximum seven years. “For Parliament to reduce the maximum penalty from life to seven years is a huge reduction. Incest is a very serious offence and I don’t know who advised Parliament at that time to adjust the level of penalty,” Mogish said. He said numerous calls were made over the years for Parliament to review the penalty but to no avail. Mogish said the calls for review “fell on deaf hears.” “Parliament should read some court judgments on incest cases and make some changes on the level of penalty as the matter is serious,” the judge said. He told state lawyers to ask the public solicitor to write to the justice minister and attorney-general on the ma

NATIONAL REPORTS A SENIOR judge yesterday expressed disappointment over the inadequate penalty for those found guilty of committing rape and incest. Waigani National Court’s Justice Panuel Mogish said such offences were serious and had carried a maximum penalty of life imprisonment but Parliament, in its own wisdom, cut it down to a maximum seven years. “For Parliament to reduce the maximum penalty from life to seven years is a huge reduction. Incest is a very serious offence and I don’t know who advised Parliament at that time to adjust the level of penalty,” Mogish said. He said numerous calls were made over the years for Parliament to review the penalty but to no avail. Mogish said the calls for review “fell on deaf hears.” “Parliament should read some court judgments on incest cases and make some changes on the level of penalty as the matter is serious,” the judge said. He told state lawyers to ask the public solicitor to write to the justice minister and attorney-general

FINANCIAL TIMES Papua New Guinea’s government has upset conservationists, landowners and parliamentarians after amending environmental laws last Friday that will make it harder to prosecute mining projects that damage the environment. Tiffany Nonggorr, a lawyer representing close to 1,000 landowners, including those opposed to China Metallurgical Group’s US$1.4bn Ramu nickel mine, said the changes meant landowners had lost the right to sue for negligence. “If they [the miners] did in PNG what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, they could escape liability for damaging the environment,” she said. Coastal landowners are particularly worried about the impact on marine life from waste that the Ramu mine will be allowed to dump into the ocean. Powes Parkop, a PNG parliamentarian, lawyer and conservation advocate said the government had granted itself “almost absolute power” to grant environment permits and assess the standards required of those permit holders. He said at the same time it had