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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Conspiracy to violate one or more laws. |
Sentence: |
3 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
1 |
Year Crime: |
2015 |
Year Convicted: |
2016 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Vanuatu |
County or Region of Crime: |
Efate |
City of Crime: |
Port Vila |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Twelve codefendants were wrongly convicted on August 16, 2016 of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu. Their prosecution was based on Vanuatu's Speaker of the Parliament Marcellino Pipite using his power as acting president while Vanuatu's President Baldwin Lonsdale was out of the country, to grant them pardons on October 11, 2015, for their corruption convictions two days earlier on October 9, 2015. Pipete announced that he granted the pardons “to maintain stability in the government of the republic of Vanuatu.” President Lonsdale rescinded the pardons. The prosecution contended that the pardons were sought and granted so the 12 defendants could escape punishment for their corruption convictions. Eleven of the codefendants were Vanuatu Ministers of Parliament (MP): Marcellino Pipite; Tony Nari; Jean-Yves Chabod; Jonas James; John Amos; Arnold Prasad; Paul Telukluk; Silas Yatan; Tony Wright; Thomas Laken; and, Sebastien Harry. The other codefendant was lawyer Wilson Iauma. Following a bench trial Judge Richard David Chetwynd found them guilty, “....in that they all, between the time of the conviction on 9th October 2015 and 11th October 2015, asked for or arranged pardons to be granted with the intentions that they escaped any sanction of the Court." Judge Chetwynd sentenced the defendants on September 29, 2016: (1) Pipite – 4 years imprisonment; (2) Nari – 3 years imprisonment; (3) Laken – 3 years imprisonment; (4) Yatan – 2 years and 6 months imprisonment; (5) Chabod – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (6) Telukluk – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (7) Amos – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (8) Prasad – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (9) Wright – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (10) Harry – 2 years and 3 months imprisonment; (11) James – 2 years imprisonment; and (12) Iauma – 2 years imprisonment (suspended for 2 years and 200 hours community work). The codefendants appealed. On April 7, 2017 the Vanuatu Court of Appeals quashed the convictions of all 12 codefendants on the basis the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of a conspiracy, that each of the defendants participated in a conspiracy, and that each of the defendants had the criminal intent to participate in a conspiracy. On November 20, 2015 the Court of Appeals affirmed the co-defendant's corruptions convictions. (Kalosil v Public Prosecutor [2015] VUCA 43; Criminal Appeal Case 12 of 2015 (20 November 2015)) As of April 22, 2017 they remained imprisoned for those convictions, however, they were expected to request parole." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 7, 2017 the Vanuatu Court of Appeals quashed the convictions of all 12 codefendants on the basis the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of a conspiracy, that each of the defendants participated in a conspiracy, and that each of the defendants had the criminal intent to participate in a conspiracy." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
Pipite v Public Prosecutor [2017] VUCA 13; Criminal Appeal Case 583 of 2017 (7 April 2017) (Reversing convictions) |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.paclii.org/vu/cases/VUCA/2017/13.html |
Information Source 2: |
"MPs found guilty of conspiracy, By Tony Wilson (Staff), The Vanuatu Independent, August 16, 2016" |
Information Location 2: |
https://vanuatuindependent.com/2016/08/16/mps-found-guilty-of-conspiracy/ |
Information Source 3: |
"While the president's away: Vanuatu speaker pardons himself and 13 MPs, By Oliver Holmes (in Bangkok), The Guardian (London), October 13, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/13/vanuatu-speaker-pardons-himself-and-13-mps |
Information Source 4: |
"Political storm brews in Vanuatu after MP convictions are quashed, By Staff, ABC.net.au, April 10, 2017" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/pacific-beat/2017-04-11/political-storm-brews-in-vanuatu-after-mp/8433278 |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org