Following is the full statement released earlier today by 25 lawyers practising in Guyana:
Public Statement
31st October 2009
“No person shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment.”
Article 141 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
“Any person who is arrested or detailed shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable .. ..of the reasons for his arrest or detention and shall be permitted, at his own expense, to retain and instruct without delay a legal adviser of his own choice…”
Article 139 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
“Every person, as contemplated by the respective international treaties set out in the Fourth Schedule to which Guyana has acceded is entitled to the human rights enshrined in the said international treaties and such rights shall be respected and upheld by the executive, legislature, judiciary and all organs and agencies of the Government, and where applicable to them all natural and legal persons and shall be enforceable in the manner herein prescribed.”
Fourth Schedule includes Convention of the Rights of the Child
Article 154 A of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
The (Guyana Police) Force shall be employed in the prevention and detection of crime, …. and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which it is directly charged …” Police Act Chapter 16:01 of the Laws of Guyana.
The events surrounding the arrest, detention and subsequent torture of a fourteen year old minor and at least one other suspect while in the custody of the Guyana Police Force at the Leonora Police Station are as chilling as they are abhorrent.
The subsequent refusal by the Guyana Police Force to permit another brutalized detainee access to a legal advisor of his own choice, particularly eminent Senior Counsel, for a period of four days is a flagrant violation of the guaranteed protected fundamental rights of the citizen, as set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Guyana by those whose primary duty is to uphold the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
The restriction and prevention by the Guyana Police of access by the media and other members of the public to a Magistrate’s Court while victims of police brutality where present in the Court are ominous signs of a cover up and suppression of the publication of criminal activity by law enforcement officers.
We the undersigned wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture of a minor and for a matter of fact any other person while in custody by members of the Guyana Police Force.
We wish to record our unreserved condemnation of the Guyana Police Force of their refusal to permit the minor access to a legal advisor of his choice after his detention by the Guyana Police Force.
The restriction of access by the media to a public court by members of the Guyana Police Force where evidence of their acts of torture and violence is unashamed attempt to suppress the dissemination of information to the public of criminal activity by members of the Guyana Police Force who are charged with the responsibility of protecting and serving the public. This enjoys our unequivocal condemnation.
We condemn crime in all forms and offer our sympathies to the victims of all crimes.
We make the following immediate demands:
1. The immediate institution of criminal charges against those responsible for the torture of the minor at the Lenora Police Station between the 27th and 30th October 2009.
2. The establishment of an independent public Commission of Inquiry into the following:
(a) Operational and structural procedures of the Guyana Police Force which led to the torture of a minor while in police custody.
(b) Operation and structural procedures which permitted these events to proceed undetected and unsanctioned.
(c) Operational and structural procedures which facilitated an Attorney at law being denied access to his client.
3. The immediate suspension of the Officer in charge of the investigation and the officer in charge of the station at which the minor was tortured during the conduct of the investigation into the events.
4. The immediate provision of immediate medical and psychological treatment to the victim of these horrific events.
1. Bernard De Santos S.C.
2. C.A. Nigel Hughes.
3. Vic Puran
4. Khemraj Ramjattan
5. Stephen Fraser.
6. Mark Waldron.
7. Glenn Hanoman.
8. Pamela De Santos.
9. Roger Yearwood.
10. Ronald Burch-Smith
11. Gregory Gaskin.
12. Anil Nandlall.
13. Gino Persaud
14. Joseph Harmon
15. Robin Hunte.
16. Kenita Cumberbatch.
17. Deborah Kumar.
18. Raphael Trotman.
19. Peter Hugh.
20. Satyesh Kissoon.
21. Rexford Jackson.
22. Moen Mc Doom. Jnr.
23. Mishka Puran.
24. Manoj Narayan.
25. Tanya Warren.
15 Comments
October 31, 2009 at 7:25 pm
This is outrageous and unacceptable…Justice must be served!!
November 2, 2009 at 8:43 pm
[...] Imran Khan also posted the lawyers' statement on his blog, and proposed that concerned Guyanese use Twitter and Facebook “to keep the [...]
November 3, 2009 at 5:08 am
SUCK MY BALLS GLOBAL VOCIES!
November 3, 2009 at 5:15 am
Irony is a bitch…
November 4, 2009 at 6:52 pm
While I agree that what the police did may be deemed as being inappropriate to many, did anyone ever stop to wonder why it was that they detained the boy in the first place?
Why would the police be interrogating such a young boy in the first place? Did they randomly pick up some strange lad from off the street and torture him? I think not.
The police did what they did because they had a reasonable suspicion that he had something to do with or knew about the circumstances surrounding the murder of former Region Three Vice Chairman, Ramnauth Bisram. Murder is a serious crime which invokes strong emotions and sometimes drastic actions.
His wounds will eventually heal, and at least the police didn’t shoot him. He will live to see many more days (despite his wrongdoings) and he’s far luckier than someone like Yohance Douglas, who was gunned down by the police for no reason at all.
Though I know it is wrong, I am in full support of the police using torture. Dead men tell no tales, thus it is better to beat the living daylights out of someone and get the required information to solve the crime than to shoot someone and leave the overall criminal situation unresolved. These lawyers, internet geeks and press people would be far better off channelling their efforts into protesting extra-judicial killings.
November 4, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Tell me SD, if the accused was a woman should she too be tortured in an equally dreadful manner threatening her fertility?
November 4, 2009 at 7:25 pm
That’s right Silver Dragon..
That is dead fukin right.. so.
SUCK MY BALLS LAWYERS, INTERNET GEEKS(GLOBAL VOICES ET AL) AND PRESS PEOPLE!
November 4, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Gosh dammit Raptus..
November 4, 2009 at 8:22 pm
It is unbelievable to see you support such barbaric acts. Can’t blame you for you’re not the accused with burnt testicles.
November 4, 2009 at 8:43 pm
raptus, are you insinuating that the only way to empathise is to be an accused with burnt testicles? Well, if that is the case, kindly shut the hell up until you can produce a pair of burnt balls of your own.
November 5, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Was that your excuse for not anwsering my question that was directed to you?
Why do you want me to say? What you already know? You know that torture is widely considered to be a violation of human rights and is declared to be unacceptable by the UN and that in most cases those victims will say or do anything to escape the situation, including untrue “confessions” and implication of others without genuine knowledge, which may well then be tortured in turn.
That statement by the Guyanese Lawyers is neither about extra- judicial killings, the Yohance issue, internet geeks, Lawyers nor the press people [only god knows where the all that hating came from]; you’re using the wrong forum to speak about what seems to be the imbedded thoughts you posses.
For the sake of Humanity I am hoping that you are not/will not represent any country or group of people in that aspect or any other social matter.
This brings me to another issue of freedom of speech. What right do you have to tell another to “shut up”? That’s how you react to situations and deal with serious issues?
November 5, 2009 at 2:18 pm
possess*
November 5, 2009 at 12:14 am
………………
(collapses)
November 5, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@ raptus:
You need to keep in mind that you’re speaking to someone who runs a blog in which his latest post was arguing that he could help fight breast cancer by giving pretty girls free breast cancer self-examinations.
November 5, 2009 at 7:18 pm
bitches.. bitches…