Former Fiji leader Bainimarama avoids jail in court case sentencing

FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister of Fiji and COP 23 President Frank Bainimarama speaks during the COP24 UN Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Fiji's former long-serving prime minister Frank Bainimarama has avoided jail and was discharged by the Magistrates Court on Thursday, after earlier this month being found guilty by a higher court of perverting the court of justice.

Bainimarama led the Pacific island nation for 16 years until narrowly losing an election in December 2022 to a coalition of parties led by current Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.