Opposition intensifying calls for treason charge to be dropped
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Thursday, 05 January 2012 11:55
Source
The political opposition on Thursday intensified its call for a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Major, his wife and a former Lieutenant Colonel to be pardoned for treason. Major, Bruce Munroe; his wife, teacher Carol-Ann Munroe; and former army reserve officer, Lieutenant -Colonel Leonard Wharton, were arrested and charged on December 27, 2010. Several well-known opposition players picketed outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Middle Street while a preliminary inquiry was set to resume inside before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
Their placards read “Free the treason accused now,” “Guyanese people demand the release of the treason accused” and “Stop using unjust laws to silence Guyanese under the name of democracy.” They claimed that the prosecution’s evidence was weak and the accused should not be languishing in jail for more than one year now. "First of all you should have had enough evidence and something like this should proceed very quickly. You can't have people languishing especially when you can just bring a charge like that and hold people indefinitely," said Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive Member, Gerhard Ramsaroop. Political Scientist, Freddie Kissoon, echoing Ramsaroop’s views, urged the Donald Ramotar-led administration to break with the Jagdeo era and free the accused. “We’re in the post-Jagdeo era. In the Jagdeo era people were locked up and charged for all kinds of flimsy excuses. Let’s move beyond the Jagdeo era and free these political prisoners,” said Kissoon, who is also a columnist for the privately-owned Kaieteur News newspaper.
Social and political activist, Mark Benschop, has already written to President Ramotar asking for the “expeditious release” of the treason accused because the charges have been trumped up. “I am appealing to you, as a father, a husband and the president of our country to exercise a great deal of compassion in this matter by the immediate release of this trio. Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Benschop in his January 4 letter to the Guyanese leader. Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green deemed the detention of the trio as a part of a “cycle of repression against certain people in this country” that could eventually trigger unrest by people who believe in “righteousness and justice.” “We have to up the ante to let the government know that it will not be business as usual. In every society, you have had upheavals, protests that began sometimes in small ways,” he said.
Joining the picket line were General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis and Donna Baird, a former neighbour and ‘family-friend’ of the Munroes at Soesdyke. “They are a very loving family…I would just like to see they get back to their normal lives… Their little children need them. They were such good neighbours and I really don’t associate this with them,” said Baird who recalled the Munroes being her tenants and fellow parishioners. The GTUC, noting that the “treason-accused are deserving of justice,” urged the 10th parliament expected to be convened before month-end to “correct these wrongs by making laws to ensure the citizens’ Fundamental Rights and the Rule of law are secured and enhanced.”
Kissoon and Benshcop, who picketed the Office of the President earlier this week, had said that they approached the political opposition parties AFC and APNU to take up the case of the trio and had been given assurances that they would. “We absolutely intend to keep pressing on this issue and to highlight it as best as we can to ensure that it remains in the public domain that these people are not forgotten,” AFC's Ramsaroop told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com). “We plan to formally ask the administration to drop this case at the very next meeting. We have a tripartite meeting and I plan to raise it at that meeting."
The APNU for its part has said that it believes the issue is one that warrants attention and they will be raising it with the government. "It is something which we are looking at. It seems to me, on the face of it, little reason to be incarcerating people on the basis of what they have; they've been in there a very long time and my own feeling is that ... you cannot be casual about how you hold people and under what conditions and for how long," senior APNU member Dr. Roopnaraine told reporters Thursday at a news breifing. He added that the APNU may make a statement on the issue shortly.
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Thursday, 05 January 2012 11:55
Source
The political opposition on Thursday intensified its call for a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Major, his wife and a former Lieutenant Colonel to be pardoned for treason. Major, Bruce Munroe; his wife, teacher Carol-Ann Munroe; and former army reserve officer, Lieutenant -Colonel Leonard Wharton, were arrested and charged on December 27, 2010. Several well-known opposition players picketed outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Middle Street while a preliminary inquiry was set to resume inside before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. Their placards read “Free the treason accused now,” “Guyanese people demand the release of the treason accused” and “Stop using unjust laws to silence Guyanese under the name of democracy.” They claimed that the prosecution’s evidence was weak and the accused should not be languishing in jail for more than one year now. "First of all you should have had enough evidence and something like this should proceed very quickly. You can't have people languishing especially when you can just bring a charge like that and hold people indefinitely," said Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive Member, Gerhard Ramsaroop. Political Scientist, Freddie Kissoon, echoing Ramsaroop’s views, urged the Donald Ramotar-led administration to break with the Jagdeo era and free the accused. “We’re in the post-Jagdeo era. In the Jagdeo era people were locked up and charged for all kinds of flimsy excuses. Let’s move beyond the Jagdeo era and free these political prisoners,” said Kissoon, who is also a columnist for the privately-owned Kaieteur News newspaper.
Social and political activist, Mark Benschop, has already written to President Ramotar asking for the “expeditious release” of the treason accused because the charges have been trumped up. “I am appealing to you, as a father, a husband and the president of our country to exercise a great deal of compassion in this matter by the immediate release of this trio. Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Benschop in his January 4 letter to the Guyanese leader. Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green deemed the detention of the trio as a part of a “cycle of repression against certain people in this country” that could eventually trigger unrest by people who believe in “righteousness and justice.” “We have to up the ante to let the government know that it will not be business as usual. In every society, you have had upheavals, protests that began sometimes in small ways,” he said.
Joining the picket line were General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis and Donna Baird, a former neighbour and ‘family-friend’ of the Munroes at Soesdyke. “They are a very loving family…I would just like to see they get back to their normal lives… Their little children need them. They were such good neighbours and I really don’t associate this with them,” said Baird who recalled the Munroes being her tenants and fellow parishioners. The GTUC, noting that the “treason-accused are deserving of justice,” urged the 10th parliament expected to be convened before month-end to “correct these wrongs by making laws to ensure the citizens’ Fundamental Rights and the Rule of law are secured and enhanced.”
Kissoon and Benshcop, who picketed the Office of the President earlier this week, had said that they approached the political opposition parties AFC and APNU to take up the case of the trio and had been given assurances that they would. “We absolutely intend to keep pressing on this issue and to highlight it as best as we can to ensure that it remains in the public domain that these people are not forgotten,” AFC's Ramsaroop told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com). “We plan to formally ask the administration to drop this case at the very next meeting. We have a tripartite meeting and I plan to raise it at that meeting."
The APNU for its part has said that it believes the issue is one that warrants attention and they will be raising it with the government. "It is something which we are looking at. It seems to me, on the face of it, little reason to be incarcerating people on the basis of what they have; they've been in there a very long time and my own feeling is that ... you cannot be casual about how you hold people and under what conditions and for how long," senior APNU member Dr. Roopnaraine told reporters Thursday at a news breifing. He added that the APNU may make a statement on the issue shortly.
Let them march, they will fall into my hands..
