Fiji's former long-serving prime minister Frank Bainimarama has avoided jail and was discharged by the High Court on Thursday, after earlier this month being found guilty of perverting the court of justice, local media reported. Bainimarama led the Pacific island nation for 16 years until narrowly losing an election in December 2022 to a coalition of parties led by current Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. A former military chief, Bainimarama came to power in a 2006 coup and later won democratic elections in 2014 and 2018.