Call of Solicitor-General to Stay Case against Urewera 18

Solicitor-General David Collins has been urged to exercise his discretion to stay the proceedings against the Urewera 18 who are due to face trial in early May, more than three and a half years after their arrest in police raids on 15 October 2007.

The request came in a letter co-sponsored by lawyers Moana Jackson of Ngati Kahungunu and Professor Jane Kelsey from the University of Auckland. It was endorsed by over 150 prominent Maori, academics and social justice campaigners.

“The accused, their whanau and the whole of Tuhoe have had this hanging over them for almost four years, unable to live a normal life. They already carry the label of ‘terrorists’ forever”, Moana Jackson said.

“Now they face the human and financial costs of a twelve week trial in Auckland. To achieve what? To vindicate the police’s anti-terrorism powers and the waste of millions of dollars trying to prove there was some terrorist plot based in Tuhoe?”, Mr Jackson asked.

“The situation is totally out of hand. The Solicitor-General needs to step in and bring the whole wretched episode to a close, as they did with the Bastion Point prosecutions in 1978.”

Professor Kelsey observed that “The efficiency of the court system has already been put ahead of their right to trial by jury. This is not a clinical, technical case; it requires people’s common sense about what was actually going on”.

“The right to a jury trial is fundamental to this case. And if the publicity means there can’t be an untainted jury, as the Solicitor-General himself said in the contempt case against Fairfax and the *Dominion Post*,[1]<#_ftn1>then the Crown needs to stay the proceedings.”

“The credibility of the justice system is at stake”, said Professor Kelsey.

Solicitor-General David Collins, QC
Crown Law
Wellington, New Zealand

Dear Dr Collins:

We write to you about an urgent matter of justice concerning the prosecution of 18 people for firearms and organised criminal group charges resulting from Police Operation 8 that culminated in the so-called ‘Terror Raids’ of 15 October 2007. All of these 18 defendants have pleaded ‘not guilty’.

In September 2008 during the Crown prosecution of Fairfax Ltd and Dominion Post editor Tim Pankhurst for contempt of court, you said:

“The consequences of the respondent’s articles is that they have undermined the chances of any defendant successfully advancing a defence of lawful, proper and sufficient purpose.”

Given this statement and a number of others that you made during the course of that trial, you clearly believe it is impossible for the defendants to have access to their principal defence to the arms charges, aside from individual issues of identification.

As importantly, the prosecution has been underway for nearly four years, a delay utterly unacceptable in a society that places a high value on the right to a speedy trial. In this case, the preliminary hearing did not take place until nearly a year after the initial arrests, with pre-trial applications another year later. The lives of these people have been tortuously on-hold for 1200+ days awaiting their fate.

Justice delayed is justice denied suggests that ultimately the biggest loser is the Crown. With such inordinately long delays, New Zealanders will come to believe that the rule of law is impotent and unable to protect their rights—thereby failing in its primary function.

Due process of law clamours for fundamental fairness, justice and liberty. We are convinced that no justice can be served by the continued prosecution of this case by the Crown. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to use your discretion to withdraw the Crown prosecution and issue a stay of the proceedings. You have the power to bring a just end to this sorry episode.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Kelsey, Professor
Faculty of Law
University of Auckland

Moana Jackson
Ngati Kahungungu and Ngati Porou
Director, Nga Kaiwhakamarama I Nga Ture

Additional signatories attached

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