Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is looking to initiate the first case of criminal libel under the recently reintroduced Criminal Libel Act.
In a press release this evening the Prime Minister announced during his weekly interview with TV1Samoa that he will be filing a criminal libel lawsuit against Malele Paulo, also known as King Faipopo.
The Prime Minister’s complaint centers on recent accusations posted by Paulo on YouTube and later posted on the Social Media via Facebook, accusing Tuilaepa of murder and smuggling firearms, according to the release from the Governments Press Secretariat.
The release also says Tuilaepa has instructed the Attorney General’s office to begin the extradition process for bringing the blogger to “stand trial in Samoa to answer to his defamatory remarks”.
Paulo, in one of his YouTube videos says he and his wife and children live in Sydney, Australia and that his name was Malele Paulo from Vailoa, Aleipata a neighboring district to Tuilaepa’s parliamentary district of Lepa, east of Apia.
According to the release, Paulo claims that Tuilaepa murdered his “Uncle” and late Cabinet Minister Luagalau Levaula Kamu by plotting his assassination.
He further accused the Prime Minister as the ringleader in the alleged smuggling of three containers of firearms into Samoa, according to the release.
“The Prime Minister has also filed a criminal complaint with police to initiate the process,” said the release.
“I am not prohibiting anyone from exercising their freedom of speech or freedom of expression but I take issue when the rights of the innocent, like myself, are violated through lies and deceit,” Tuilaepa is quoted as saying.
The matter is now up to Police and the Attorney General’s Office to pursue.
According to the release, the Prime Minister is already predicting the outcome noting that, “As a King, he (Paulo) will be treated first class in terms of brand new accommodation quarters and three square meals a day free of charge, when the new Tanumalala Prison is completed”.
