Academic awarded $250,000 for army torture September 7, 2007

[The following dispatch was filed for Pacific Magazine Online.]

Academic Anirudh Singh has been awarded $250,000 in compensation by the High Court in Suva for his kidnap and torture by soldiers in 1990.

Justice Roger Coventry handed down judgment against the Fiji Military Forces on Wednesday bringing Singh’s 14-year legal battle to a close.

And Justice Coventry said he had set a substantial sum in damages to send a signal to the disciplined forces that it would punish illegal behaviour by serving officers.

Justice Coventry awarded Singh, a chemistry lecturer at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, $75,000 in damages for pain and suffering, $75,000 in special damages for the setback to his career and $100,000 in exemplary damages for the actions of the five soldiers, four of whom are still employed by the Fiji Military Forces.

He also awarded compounding interest at 5 percent backdated to when Singh filed his claim on June 25, 1993.

Singh was abducted on October 24, 1990 by soldiers of the then Special Operations Security Unit, an anti-dissent intelligence unit set up following Lt-Col Sitiveni Rabuka’s coup in 1987.

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