Rytz v Attorney-General

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

High Court of Kiribati

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

04/09/2018

LITIGATION TYPE

Access to Justice

SUBJECT MATTER

Other

REVIEW TYPE

N/A

SUMMARY

(Extract from judgment)

[3] The applicants came to Kiribati in December 2017 on a Visitor’s Permit. On 31 December 2017 the applicants visited Tebikenikora Village in South Tarawa, a village that has been featured, nationally and internationally, as experiencing the heavy brunt of climate change impact. During the two-hour visit to Tebikenikora Village, the applicants took 360 photographs showing the effect of the impact of climate change on the village and people.

[4] On 1 January 2018, the applicants went to Taneau Village in Abaiang for a visit. The next day 2 January 2018, while still in Abaiang, the applicants were arrested and taken back to South Tarawa by speed boat.

[The police confiscated various electronic and camera equipment from the applicants: see at [5]]

[9] The natural question that must be answered is: Why did the applicants have to bring with them such film-making items? It is not too far-fetched to infer that the applicants purposely brought with them the filming and photographing equipments to enable them to complete the documentary filming project on the effect of climate change in Kiribati. The applicants themselves confirmed that they made the documentary film featured “Anote’s Ark” which they said was completed on 22 December 2017 and will be launched in America at the end of January 2018. Conveniently, the applicant came to Kiribati with their filming equipment at the end of December 2017 and before the launching of their premiered film on Kiribati in January 2018. The applicants’ story that they came only as tourists and not to do climate-change effects filming or photographing is not acceptable since it is not the truth.

[10] The applicants lied to the Immigration authorities and as such they were clearly in breach of their Visitor’s Permit. As such they had no cause to complain when the police arrested them for breaking the laws of Kiribati, namely section 122 of the Penal Code for giving false information and section 3(8) of the Exhibition of Films Ordinance for filming and film exhibition without licence.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Rytz v Attorney-General [2020] KIHC 23