The Alliance For Change read in the daily newspapers of the advice rendered by the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Guyana Police Force about the lack of evidence of any infraction of the criminal laws of Guyana by the statements made by the Attorney General in a conversation with a journalist, Gildharie, of the Kaieteur News.
The AFC is aware that in 2002 the PPP Government, who then enjoyed a majority in Parliament, passed an amendment to the Criminal Law Offences Act to create a new offence of terrorism.
The new offence, section 309 A (a), provides: “Whoever with intent to strike terror in any section of the people does any act or thing by using firearms or lethal weapons in such a manner as to cause or likely to cause death or injuries to any person or persons …commits a terrorist act.”
Section 309 A(2) provides: “Whoever advocates, aides and abets, advises or incites or knowingly facilitates the commission or, a terrorist act or any act preparatory to a terrorist act commits an offence..”
The Attorney General has confirmed that he uttered the following statements in his conversation with the said journalist.
“ there is a simpler way of dealing with this situation you know, I tell Glenn already. He knows I have capacity and I know his. I don’t have to go Court every day and issue press statements, I don’t have to resort to those methods…there are far more effective measures to which I can resort.”
“I think that you should, my first advice to you is that you should move out of there… it is a dangerous f**king place to work, is a dangerous place because that, I am telling you, read between the lines this thing not going to go on for long, people not going to tek this thing just so is a lot of powerful people that this man,”
“no hear nah you know how it gun stop? somebody gun go into Kaieteur, you see everybody nah gat as I told Adam today I said adam everbody don’t joust.. everybody, wait hold on…everybody doesn’t have a newspaper to use as a weapon, I told Adam, I said Adam people got weapons right, is not newspaper they gonna use as a weapon they got weapons and when you continue attack people like that and they have no way of responding they gun just walk with their weapon into that same fucking Saffon street office and wha come suh do and innocent, Peter gun gah pay fuh f**king Paul in deh one day, me ah tell you innocent, me a tell you honestly man to man that will happen soon”
In the light of the clear unambiguous statements of the Attorney General about the existence of intended acts of terror against a national newspaper and its owner, such intention all the more corroborated when he is giving a warning to Gildharie to remove from there, and his clear advocacy and incitement of the specific terrorist activity it is difficult to appreciate the context in which the Director of Public Prosecutions offered the advice to the Commissioner of Police as she did. Especially in the context of a history where this newspaper has had five of its staff members brutally killed some time previously.
The Alliance for Change urges the Director of Public Prosecutions to revisit her examination of the evidence in light of the provisions of section 309 A of the Criminal Law Offenses Act.
End.
Comments are closed