Ex-Fiji PM in coup court action

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Fiji's former prime minister has begun a legal challenge to the military chiefs who deposed him last December.

Lawyers for Laisenia Qarase told the high court in the capital, Suva, that the coup was illegal and all government actions since then have been invalid.

They said the current prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, had no constitutional powers to dismiss the government and form a new one.

At the time, the military accused Mr Qarase's government of corruption.

Cmdr Bainimarama has said the coup was authorised by Fiji's President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

But lawyers representing the deposed prime minister and his former cabinet colleagues told the court this was false and the coup had been unconstitutional.

Mr Qarase returned to Fiji's capital Suva in September after more than eight months in exile on his home island.

His arrival immediately prompted the Pacific island's military rulers to reimpose a state of emergency, three months after the previous one was lifted.