OECS appeal judge disagrees with CCJ critics

by Paul Charles

Friday, January 23, 2004

ROSEAU, Dominica: An OECS appeal court judge says ''not guilty'' in a ''case'' put forward by opponents of the highest regional appellate body, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Dominican Brian Alleyne, a member of the OECS panel of appeal judges, disagreed with critics of the CCJ who believe politicians would hand pick judges to serve their interest in the new regional justice system. 

''I don't accept that at all, the fact is we sit in very small jurisdictions and there's no appreciable political influence, the court is universally respected as being independent of political interference and even the process of appointment of judges is an independent and transparent process,'' he noted while visiting Dominica for the funeral of its late Prime Minister Pierre Charles last weekend.

Alleyne added that political interference may be minimised by the large number of regional countries participating in the CCJ which will replace the Privy Council in London as the final appeal court for the Caribbean. 

''The wider you become the less you can say that there is the likelihood of political interference, when you dealing with 19 nations the likelihood of political influence is very, very slim,'' he said.

The St. Lucia-based Alleyne is a former foreign affairs minister of Dominica and has been a lawyer for over thirty years. 

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