Suspended Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde has stated that he will not take part in a tribunal hearing on Monday in relation to the allegations against him.

Pryde was suspended as the DPP in April last year, and this year, the Judicial Services Commission added an additional charge of being overpaid superannuation, which he denies.

Pryde was removed for alleged misbehavior after a meeting with former Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The initial tribunal hearing was supposed to start in August this year, but this did not occur.

In a letter to the President’s Constitutional Tribunal Chair Justice Anare Tuilevuka, Pryde stated that he is reluctant to withdraw from any further participation in the Tribunal.

He referred to the Tribunal’s correspondence to him last Thursday.

He states that the letter mentions the need for the Tribunal to be just and fair, but he questions how his hearing can be just and fair when he is deprived of the means to adequately defend himself, as his salary remains suspended.

Pryde claims that continuing the hearing under these circumstances is a clear violation of the President’s mandate to the Tribunal to be just and fair.

He also says this is a violation of relevant International Labour Organization conventions, to which Fiji is a party and has ratified.

He adds that the circumstances that have brought them to this point lie squarely with the acting Chief Justice as the chair of the JSC and the JSC’s decision to advise the President to suspend his salary and entitlements prior to the hearing.

Pryde says he will not be intimidated by the JSC into resigning from his office as the Director of Public Prosecutions, and he will not be bullied into participating in a hearing without the ability to adequately defend himself.

Pryde says that, in order for the Tribunal to proceed fairly and justly, he is requesting that the Tribunal refer the matter back to the President, requesting an extension until the matter of the suspension of his salary is resolved by its reinstatement.