The appeals case of New Zealand lawyer Rajendra Chaudhry found guilty of one count of contempt of court was called in the Civil Court in Suva today.

Chaudhry was ordered to pay a fine of $50,000 and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after earlier being found guilty.

The court heard that the amount has been reduced to $5000 and the fine has been cleared off.

In May this year, Chaudhry was convicted for making defamatory comments on Facebook against the former Chief Justice Anthony Gates, Judge Justice Yohan Liyanage, and the Fijian Judiciary as a whole.

He made the comments between September and October last year.

A hear date for the appeal will be set on October 14th.