Sprent Dabwido

Sprent Jared Dabwido (born September 16, 1972 in Nauru - † May 8, 2019 in Armidale , New South Wales ) was a politician from Nauru. From 2004 to 2014 he was a member of the Nauruan Parliament . On November 15, 2011 he became President Naurus and took over the office of Foreign Minister and Interior Minister at the same time . He held the office of president until 2013.

Life

Dabwido was the son of a parliamentarian. Before his political career he was active as a weight lifter. He took part in the 1995 World Weightlifting Championships in the super heavyweight class and was Nauruan champion in 1995 and 1996.

Dabwido was elected for the first time as a member of the Nauruan Parliament in the elections of October 23, 2004 in the constituency of Meneng with a vote of 239.733 . He became one of two representatives of this constituency alongside Dogabe Jeremiah . In the previous election on May 3, 2003, he finished third and was thus defeated by Nimrod Botelanga , whose place he took and who only received the fifth-best result in this electoral district. In the parliamentary elections in Nauru in 2008 and 2010 he was re-elected and in 2009 he was appointed Minister for Telecommunications and Transport in his cabinet by President Marcus Stephen .

On December 15, 2011, the Nauruan Parliament decided with nine to eight votes to vote out Frederick Pitcher , who had only been elected as the successor to Marcus Stephens as President Naurus on November 10, 2011, and with nine to eight votes only narrowly against Milton Dube could enforce. On November 15, 2011, Dabwide was elected pitchers successor with another nine to eight votes and thus President Naurus.

On November 16, 2011, Dabwido presented his cabinet, in which he took over the offices of foreign and interior minister, while David Adeang became the new finance minister. His presidency ended in 2013. One of the more well-known acts of his tenure was an agreement with the then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012, through which refugee camps for Australia were again maintained in Nauru ( Offshore Processing Deal ). He later publicly regretted this decision, assuming that the asylum seekers would be allowed to travel to Australia following their internment, which ultimately did not happen.

As a politician, Dabwido was also involved in educating people about the dangers of climate change in the Pacific, about which he gave a speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations .

In the election on June 8, 2013, Dabwido was re-elected to parliament with the most votes in his constituency. In June 2014, however, he and MP Squire Jeremiah were suspended on the grounds that they had behaved in an unruly manner. They were both arrested in June 2015 for participating in protests against the government on allegations of corruption. After almost a month in detention, Dabwido suffered a minor heart attack and was admitted to hospital. Shortly thereafter, he and Jeremiah were released on bail pending their trial.

In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Dabwido only reached fourth place in his constituency and could no longer obtain a seat in parliament.

In April 2017, the trial of Dabwido and another 18 people who were involved in protests on June 16, 2015 (sometimes referred to as “Nauru 19” by the press) began. They were accused of involvement in unrest, disrupting the legislature and entering a restricted area. All but three of the defendants pleaded not guilty. In September 2018, the Supreme Court decided to permanently drop the case. Former Australian judge Geoffrey Muecke, who participated in the hearing as an independent jury member, complained about various abuses. A fair trial is not possible in Nauru because the government is preventing a speedy trial and wants to take the accused to prison by all means.

Sick of cancer, Dabwido went to Australia in 2018 for treatment and applied for asylum there. The following year he died at the age of 46 in the Australian city of Armidale .

Individual evidence

^ Weightlifting Champion - President of the Republic of Nauru. iwf.net. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
↑ Stephen's cabinet (as of August 15, 2011) ( Memento of May 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
↑ ^a ^b Stefan Armbruster: Sprent Dabwido died in Australia while receiving cancer treatment. sbs.com.au, May 8, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
↑ Suspended Nauru MPs accused of high treason by the speaker of parliament. In: Australia Network News June 27, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
^ Nauru opposition MPs Sprent Dabwido and Squire Jeremiah among seven people released on bail. In: ABC News July 17, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
↑ Nauru 2016 elections wrap up naurugov.nr. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
↑ Ben Doherty: Nauru 19: judge throws out case and rules protesters cannot receive a fair trial. In: The Guardian . September 13, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2018.

Web links

rulers.org

personal data
SURNAME	Dabwido, Sprent
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dabwido, Sprent Jared (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Nauruan politician, president and head of state of the Republic of Nauru
DATE OF BIRTH	September 16, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nauru
DATE OF DEATH	May 8, 2019
Place of death	Armidale , New South Wales

[1] Weightlifting Champion - President of the Republic of Nauru. iwf.net. Retrieved January 17, 2020.

[2] Stephen's cabinet (as of August 15, 2011) ( Memento of May 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

[sbs-3] Stefan Armbruster: Sprent Dabwido died in Australia while receiving cancer treatment. sbs.com.au, May 8, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2020.

[4] Suspended Nauru MPs accused of high treason by the speaker of parliament. In: Australia Network News June 27, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.

[5] Nauru opposition MPs Sprent Dabwido and Squire Jeremiah among seven people released on bail. In: ABC News July 17, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.

[6] Nauru 2016 elections wrap up naurugov.nr. Retrieved October 20, 2018.

[7] Ben Doherty: Nauru 19: judge throws out case and rules protesters cannot receive a fair trial. In: The Guardian . September 13, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2018.