Former Fiji Labour Party Parliamentary Leader for the 2018 General Election, Aman Ravindra-Singh, has been given 21 days to file his submissions in a defamation case.

The matter was called before Judge Justice Lyone Seneviratne at the Civil High Court in Suva.

Mr Ravindra-Singh has been sued by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for defamation.

Mr Ravindra-Singh is alleged to have posted an unsubstantiated article titled ‘Regime Dirty Politics’ on his Facebook page.

In the post, Ravindra-Singh claimed that Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum (the plaintiffs) had orchestrated temple break-ins. He did not back his posting with any evidence.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages for libel and slander, an order that Mr Ravindra-Singh apologise and that the apology be published in a newspaper and that the article be removed from his Facebook page. Mr Ravindra-Singh is representing himself.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Pravesh Sharma from Victoria Chambers, who appeared in court on instructions from lawyer Devanesh Sharma from R Patel Lawyers, told the court that the legal submissions were filed and served to the defendant.

Mr Ravindra-Singh had sought time from the court to file his submissions.

The matter has been adjourned for mention to fix a hearing date on April 20.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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