A man accused of throwing a pig’s head in a Queensland church while Samoa’s prime minister was visiting faces an extradition hearing over conspiracy to murder.

September 22, 2020

The Samoan government is attempting to extradite a protester accused of throwing a pig’s head on the floor of a Queensland church to insult the Pacific nation’s visiting prime minister.

Talalelei Pauga, 43, was charged with committing public nuisance after he allegedly hurled the head and yelled abuse at Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi in November 2018.

He was also accused of dumping dog food and chicken manure on the floor at Logan’s St Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Parish, south of Brisbane, during the protest over alleged Samoan cultural land rights abuses.

Queensland prosecutors later dropped the public nuisance charge.

But Mr Pauga was rearrested on August 20 this year after Samoa made an extradition request to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.

He was placed on remand in Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, where riots recently broke out over a COVID-19 prisoner lockdown.

“The charges are serious. They involve an allegation of conspiracy to murder. Specifically, conspiracy to murder the Samoan prime minister,” Samoa’s lawyer Marc McKechnie told Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

“Samoa has made a lawful extradition request and Australia has obligations under international law to comply with that extradition request.”

Two other men have been charged over the alleged assassination plot, according to various media outlets in Samoa.

Mr Pauga is accused of hiring a hitman, helping source a gun, and electronically transferring money to pay for the service, Samoa Global News says.

He and one of the other men charged are allegedly members of Samoa Solidarity International Group, an activist group that says Samoa’s prime minister is running the country as a dictatorship.

SSIG president Malo Vaimoso says the charge against Mr Pauga may be politically motivated because of the group’s vocal stance over Samoan human rights.

“We’re being targeted by the prime minister’s political party because we’ve raised these issues and are suing the government for breaching the constitution,” she told AAP.

Mr Pauga’s legal team say they will fight Samoa’s application to extradite their client.

They’ve also applied for him to be released from custody saying he had not been charged with an offence in Australia.

Lawyer George Mancini also said Mr Pauga had not been lawfully processed after his arrest by the Australian Federal Police.

“He’s been in custody at least a month and that’s a long time for a man with a family and a business,” he said.

“Every day is a day in which his rights are being interfered with.”

There is no extradition treaty between Australia and Samoa

“But there is a concept of (exchange for mutual benefit) at play,” Mr McKechnie told the court.

“Broad concepts of liberty applicable in criminal matters … are an error to apply in this particular case.

“Administrative detention happens all the time.”

Outside court, a business associate who preferred not to be named, said Mr Pauga was an Australian citizen and had lived in Brisbane for most of his life.

He said the father of four was a well-known Samoan activist and had previously protested over issues, such as alleged misuse of international aid funds and the erosion of freedom of speech in the tiny Pacific nation.

The hearing continues.