CGID blasts Guyana government for acts of torture
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| Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 |
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BROOKLYN, USA: The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) in a statement on Monday blasted the Guyana government and its security forces for what it described as "the use of torture as an acceptable instrument of law enforcement and intelligence gathering."
Torture is an international crime against humanity. The Institute accused the government of torturing African Guyanese young men, and vowed to conduct its own investigation and to file complaints with the United Nations Committee on Torture and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
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Terrence McKenzie in Bartica Hospital, Guyana, with lacerated back after allegedly being tortured by Guyana police.
Photo: Stabroek News |
"The People's Progressive Party government of Guyana has repeatedly demonstrated contempt for the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, American Declaration of the Rights, American Convention on Human Rights and other international laws," the Institute alleged.
The New York-based organization said that the Guyana government subscribes to extra-judicial killings, Police brutality, kidnappings and executions by "phantom death squads," with known ties to the government.
Of particular note, the victims of these alleged state-sponsored crimes are mostly African Guyanese, the CGID statement said. The Institute restated its concern that since 2004, "death squads," have verifiably executed well over 400 young black men, with impunity. There has been no investigation of these murders.
CGID President, Rickford Burke, observed that "For African Guyanese, Guyana is quickly becoming like Germany in 1938." He said secret KGB-like agents comb through black villages, identifying youngsters of a radical pedigree, whom they classify as "criminals." Many subsequently turn up dead; their bullet riddled cadavers litter streets, trenches and swamps.
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David Leander being taken into a courtroom after allegedly being tortured.
Photo: Stabroek News |
He asserted that "Others are, without a modicum of evidence, tagged with unsolved crimes and classified as "wanted." The security forces are coerced to, without probable cause or warrant of a court, invade their homes and gun them down in cold blood, in the presence of their wives and children.
Noting that "the streets have become a battleground for mercenaries and lawlessness," Burke said, "An even more dangerous trend has emerged. Extra-judicial killings by security forces and executions by 'death squads' have become indistinguishable."
The CGID head said the Institute is concerned that "a particular demographic of young black men are undeniably being tortured about presumed knowledge of weapon stockpiles and alleged involvement in a anti-government resistance forces."
He contended that "The Police Commissioner has acknowledged that security forces engage in torture but has fingered the GDF."
A Stabroek newspaper article on November 9, 2007, titled "Police did not torture Buxtonians," reported that Police Commissioner, Henry Green, said, "The police had nothing to do with the beating of Patrick Sumner, Victor Jones and David Leander, and that it was members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who had tortured the men." Burke said that this is a stunning admission from a Police Commissioner.
Burke maintained that, the Commission's admission aside, there is independent evidence that Patrick Sumner, Victor Jones, David Leander and Terrence McKenzie were all tortured. Sumner, Jones and McKenzie, were allegedly tortured at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna, Police Headquarters at Eve Leary and at least one military camp. CGID released photographs of the men, while in Police custody, with severe injuries about their swollen bodies, including burns, large cuts and bruises.
David Leander was only seen by his attorney, Basil Williams, after Guyanese Supreme Court Judge, Jainarayan Singh, ordered that he be produced following habeas corpus proceedings. Leander's torture and inhumane treatment is being likened to the infamous US military Abu Ghraib Prison scandal in Iraq.
Leander was so incapacitated that Justice Jainarayan Singh was, on November 2, 2007 forced to examine his condition in a vehicle in the court yard. Singh then ordered that he be taken to a hospital, where he was admitted. There has been no official condemnation of or inquiry into these acts of torture.
Emphasising that CGID does not condone criminal conduct, the Institute's President said "We abhor criminal behavior and believe it must be met with the full force of the law." He however noted that there are settled laws and procedures as well as constitutionally guaranteed rights which dictate how persons accused of committing crimes are to be treated.
"Violations of such laws, in of itself, constitute serious offences. Thus, in bringing alleged offenders to justice, the state must at all times uphold the constitution, failing which its actions become repugnant to the very constitution and society it aims to protect," he stressed.
Burke slammed the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) whom he accused of "pretending to be oblivious to the plight of Africans."
He also called on CARICOM, the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union (EU) as well as the American, British and Canadian ambassadors, to condemn torture, extra-judicial killings and police brutality in Guyana. |
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