Fiji has launched a murder investigation following the death of a detainee in military custody

Police in Fiji have launched a murder investigation into the death of a drug suspect who died while in military custody, authorities said on Monday, unraveling the defence forces initial claim that the man had succumbed to a sudden illness.

The death of the suspect, Jone Vakarisi, 36, comes as the country grapples with a severe drug trafficking crisis and a troubled history of extrajudicial violence.

Vakarisi was detained by members of the military last Thursday and taken to an army base near the capital, Suva. He was held for questioning in connection with an attempted break-in at a military ammunition armory on April 9.

Last week, the military issued a statement claiming that Vakarisi had suffered a “sudden and severe medical emergency” that resulted in his death. But that official narrative quickly began to collapse over the weekend after a leaked copy of his death certificate pointed to a violent end.

The document, which was independently verified by OCCRP and reported by local Fijian media, indicated that Vakarisi died from asphyxia due to the "aspiration of gastric contents," meaning he choked on his own vomit. The certificate also documented "traumatic" head and chest injuries that caused "severe" internal bleeding.

Faced with the mounting evidence, the army issued a formal retraction on Monday, acknowledging that its initial classification of the death "does not fully reflect the medical findings now available." A military spokesperson added that the armed forces would not issue further comments "given that the matter is now under active investigation by the Fiji Police Force."

Ana Naisoro, a spokesperson for the Fiji Police Force, confirmed the shifting nature of the case on Monday. “The investigation into the death of Jone Vakarisi has been classified as murder,” she said. “Investigators are in the process of gathering information to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the victim’s death.”

Medical experts and family members have also dismissed the military’s original claims. The mother of Vakarisi’s children told local media that he had no pre-existing illnesses. Dr. Ronal Kumar, president of the Fiji Medical Association, told OCCRP that the postmortem findings likely pointed to violence.

“Did he die of natural causes? No,” Dr. Kumar said. “Was injuries or death inflicted on him? Very likely, based on what is on the postmortem report.”

The circumstances of Vakarisi’s arrest are also under intense scrutiny. He was detained alongside three other men just days after the military publicly warned that any “challenges to security, including threats to military infrastructure,” would be met with “firm, lawful, and proportionate action.”

While the military claimed the four men "voluntarily presented themselves" at the barracks, an eyewitness who spoke to OCCRP on the condition of anonymity offered a drastically different account. The witness described unmarked vehicles swerving into a Suva neighborhood on Thursday night, where uniformed soldiers armed with rifles forcefully abducted the men. The three other detainees were released on Saturday.

Both the military and the police have confirmed that formal investigations are underway.

The murder inquiry casts a renewed spotlight on the documented history of custodial violence by Fijian security forces. A 2016 report by Amnesty International found that beatings in state custody had resulted in at least five deaths in the country.

Over the past two years, the military has assumed an increasingly prominent role in supporting domestic police who are struggling to curb a massive influx of narcotics destined for Australia and New Zealand. Recent seizures of tons of methamphetamine and cocaine, compounded by allegations of law enforcement corruption and the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, have pushed the Pacific nation into a state of crisis.