Fiji's vice president found guilty over coup

Fiji's Vice President Jope Seniloli on Thursday was found guilty of offenses in a coup in 2000 and is facing sentences of imprisonment.

Seniloli will be sentenced on Friday and could face up to eight years in jail.

He was accused of backing the short-lived coup led by ethnic Fijian nationalist George Speight that ousted Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and briefly serving as the country's president.

Fiji's High Court found Seniloli and three others guilty of illegally swearing in Speight as head of the country's government.

A handful of gunmen stormed Fiji's parliament in Suva on May 19,2000, and took Chaudhry and most of his government hostage. The next day Seniloli swore in several ministers in a rebel government.

Speight, who was arrested later, is serving a life sentence on a prison island off the capital Suva.

Source: Xinhua