In October 2007, the police arrested 18 people from the Maori iwi, Ngai Tuhoe, in Te Urewera. The police said that these people were training in secret for possible terrorist activities like kidnapping. The police had taken secret videos showing these 18 people learning to use guns and other weapons in a military kind of training.
Most of those 18 were charged with using illegal firearms – guns.
However, four people were charged with a serious crime of belonging to an organized criminal group. The trial took six weeks. The jury took 19 hours looking at the evidence and finally this afternoon said they could not reach a decision on that main charge. However, the jury found them guilty of some firearms charges. They will be sentenced in May. Meanwhile they are on bail and allowed to go home.
The police might decide to ask for a re-trial.
There was a political reason for the activity of these 18 people. They believe that their land in Te Urewera was not part of the Treaty of Waitangi. They were badly treated by the government in the 1860s. Some of the Tuhoe talk of wanting independence from the rest of New Zealand.
Te Urewera is a National Park in the central North Island and includes Lake Waikaremoana. Most of the land is hilly and covered in forest. The Tuhoe people are a very strong community.
Listen to September 17th 2011 to hear more about this. (Note that one of those people arrested died some time after 2007.)
Vocabulary
firearms – guns
charges – accused of crimes in court
sentence –decision of the judge e.g. go to prison, pay a fine, do community service
on bail – do not have to stay in prison before the sentence
evidence – everything that is said in court
re-trial – another trial for the same crimes