Fiji's attorney-general, Qoriniasi Bale, said he could...

Fiji's attorney-general, Qoriniasi Bale, said he could not see anything preventing the President from commuting the death penalty if 15 soldiers facing a court martial for mutiny were found guilty, adding that he was holding discussions with the minister of home affairs, who oversees the army, for the removal of the death penalty from military law. Mr Bale said that parliament would not be able to abolish the death penalty in time for the court martial but the president, as commander in chief of the military, had the powers to reduce the sentence. "I believe that there is nothing to prevent our head of state, the president, to reduce the death penalty to a lesser penalty. I do not see any reason why that cannot be done," Bale said.