KEY POINTS:
Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, must "give the nation back to the people" says freed New Zealand businessman Ballu Khan.
Mr Khan returned to New Zealand today after charges he plotted to kill Commodore Bainimarama were permanently stayed yesterday.
He said at Auckland International Airport that neither the military nor police showed accountability or respect for the law, the constitution or for human rights.
He said for Fiji to survive in the international community, Cdre Bainimarama needed to restore the democratic process and the rule of law.
Mr Khan said he needed urgent medical treatment after being badly beaten up by Cdre Bainimarama's soldiers while in custody.
He was charged with nine others with conspiring to kill Cdre Bainimarama and several cabinet ministers but was set free after the High Court in Fiji issued a permanent stay.
Mr Khan was arrested a year ago, a year after Cdre Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a bloodless coup.
He was kept in custody for 60 days without appearing before a judge and initially not allowed to see a lawyer in private.
His lawyers asked for a stay order, saying importance evidence had been destroyed, prejudicingd his case.
Today Mr Khan said after yesterday's High Court ruling he never believed he would be free until he stepped onto New Zealand soil.
"We couldn't relax until we had gone through border control (in Fiji) and they had allowed us to leave," he said.
"It was a very tight call this morning."
He said he would not go back to Fiji.
He described the court ruling as "brave" and a "real warning to the authorities to respect human rights, liberty, the constitution and the rule of law".
He was still puzzled about why he was charged but believed it may have been because he employed some former soldiers to try and help them with rehabilitation after they served prison terms over the mutiny in 2000.
"I think that really triggered a level of animosity that he (Cdre Bainimarama) couldn't overcome."
However, he was also puzzled about why the charges against the other nine were still going ahead.
He said after he was released on bail he and his staff were regularly intimidated by a "very aggresive posture" by Cdre Bainimarama's soldiers.
"Suva is full of army intelligence officers in plain clothes so you have to be very careful about where you are, who you are talking to, what you say and what you do."
He said his security staff were regularly locked up by soldiers and kept in barracks for several days.
He was regularly beaten and a year ago was very close to death.
"The people who were with me in the police post felt another blow to the back of my head was going to be the end of it. One police officer intervened and warned the army guy `you will kill him'," he said.
Mr Khan said he would get medical treatment for the head injuries he received from Cdre Bainimarama's soldiers and would then go to Australia to see his sick mother.
He said his lawyer, Auckland QC Peter Williams, had filed a compensation claim for between $20 million and $40 million in Fiji but that figure could rise in view of the High Court ruling.
He said Prime Minister Helen Clark, and then-Foreign Minister Winston Peters and the people of New Zealand deserved a lot of credit for the support they gave him.
- NZPA
