Fijian coup leader George Speight has applied for a presidential pardon and could be released from jail within a month.
The former businessman, who with 10 others was jailed for life in 2002 for leading the takeover of Fiji's government in May 2000, has applied for a presidential pardon to Fiji's Mercy Commission.
Speight and a group of Indigenous nationalists that included special forces soldiers sought to return political power to Indigenous Fijians.
They held hostage then-prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first Indo-Fijian leader, and his government for 56 days.
It led to a further 21 months of political chaos and sporadic violence driven by ethnic tension between Indigenous iTaukei Fijians and Indo-Fijians.
Speight was arrested at a military checkpoint in July 2000.
He was detained on Nukulau Island with his accomplices while they awaited trial, before Speight was initially convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
Though Fiji's law punishes treason by death, the Mercy Commission in 2002 commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
Speight was elected to parliament while waiting for his treason trial, but got kicked out as he could not attend because he was in custody.
President must act on recommendations of Mercy Commission
Headed by Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, the current Mercy Commission was put together in January during the government's first week in office after it won an election in December.
Mr Turaga told the ABC Speight's applications were "now going through the lawful administrative process".
The ABC understands applications are compiled at Fiji's Corrections Service and submitted to the Mercy Commission, which is housed at the Office of the Attorney-General.
Fijian law is not clear on what criteria the four-member commission uses.
But it does grant the commission power to recommend that the president, Fiji's largely ceremonial head of state, can "exercise a power of mercy by – (a) granting a free or conditional pardon to a person convicted of any offence; (b) postponing the carrying out of a punishment, either for a specific indeterminate period; or (c) remitting all or part of a punishment."
However the commission must consider reports from the judge who presided over the case, or the chief justice, as well as consider victim impact statements.
According to the law, President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere does not have the power to deliberate further.
Instead he "must" act on the recommendations of the commission.
It can take as little as a month from when applications are received to when presidential pardons are issued.
Mr Turaga had said in March at the last pardon ceremony the commission had been meeting for years and inmates had been pardoned accordingly, though not announced publicly.
The commission meets to evaluate applications for pardon from inmates serving in Fiji's corrections facilities.
The commission is chaired by the attorney-general and has four other members who are appointed by the president on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission.
The Judicial Services Commission consults with the attorney-general before it makes recommendations for members to the president.
The commission decides the frequency and location of its meetings.
