Army officers sanctioned
The army has taken “appropriate action” against members accused of torturing two soldiers during interrogations, Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Chief-of-Staff Commodore Gary Best said yesterday.
While not divulging what actions were taken against the accused officers, Best told Stabroek News that the army has taken actions against the men, after a Board of Inquiry concluded that while there was no evidence of torture, there were some instances of “roughing up.” Stabroek News has been told that the accused ranks may have lost their ranks as a result of the findings.
Asked if his administration sanctions “roughing up,” Best said no, explaining that this was the reason action was taken against the officers. He said they have since submitted their report to the Defence Board and there is nothing further for them to do in relation to the inquiry.
Meanwhile, although torture allegations were also made against the army officers by Buxtonians Patrick Summer and Victor Jones, Commodore Best said the inquiry only looked at the claims made by soldiers Alvin Wilson and Michael Dunn. Another soldier, who has since left the army, Sharth Robertson, had also said he was tortured but his allegations were not investigated in the inquiry. The three had alleged that they were tortured during the interrogations of them in relation to a missing army AK-47.
Best said that he found it surprising that the media has been insinuating that the inquiry investigated allegations made by all the men when it was just in relation to Wilson and Dunn.
“…It is [the report] juxtaposed with photographs and the videos of Mr [Patrick] Summer and other persons which we did not investigate. And I think it is unfair to the GDF… I think the media have every right to ask that an investigation be done. But when an investigation is done in relation to two persons I don’t think the media should juxtapose photographs and videos of other allegations. It makes the military looks bad and it makes media also look bad,” he said.
The soldiers alleged that they were pepper-sprayed and whipped with metal pipes by officers attached to the Military Criminal Investiga-tion Department (MCID). Following much public outcry, the Board of Inquiry was established.
Although the report has not been made public, government spokesmen revealed that it found cases of “roughing up” and that some of the allegations were false.
Afterward, Dunn told Stabroek News that he felt “betrayed by the government and the Guyana Defence Force” for labelling the “horrifying experiences” he and his colleagues endured as mere ‘roughing up.’ “I don’t know what they call roughing up, but that wasn’t no rough up. I am a military person and I know what is torture. That was torture and I have the evidence on my body to show they tortured me,” Dunn had told this newspaper.
Dunn had said he was beaten, doused with cold water and in one case slashed across the heel with an iron pipe during interrogation. He also said there are marks on his body caused by the electrical shocks that were inflicted on him by the two soldiers. He said the men threw acid on his body and sprayed pepper-spray on his genitals. While the army colonel and two warrant officers, who headed the Board of Inquiry said in their report that there was no evidence of torture, Dunn questioned where they looked for the evidence as he has a “body of evidence” and photographs of his injuries. He said he had given a written statement to the Board and detailed what had happened to him. “This is really, really bad that they are saying that there was no torture,” Dunn said.
He felt the investigators stifled their conscience given the facts before them. “They could see this man [himself] ent just make up anything and that he is talking the truth. They just trying to protect people.”
Dunn had said it was two members of MCID who perpetrated the torture against him and according to him they were still at Camp Ayanganna, where he is still attached.
And he had said following his ordeal he still has trouble with his left ear as it oozes and doctors have told him there is nothing that could done about that injury.
This is BULL.
What can we expect Best to say……..Loose rank??? These men almost killed and deformed these innocent men and that’s all he is saying????
The Army have become and joke.
God knows why i am not in the army (when its was really an army) because some of the nonsense that is taking place would have never happened!!These “officers should be sent to jail but they are still getting duty free concession and a fat pay cheque.
The Army has become a toothless puppet and the government pulls the strings. The “Big Kahuna” is merely a pawn with no real power.
COME ON SF, YOU AND ALL GUYANESE KNOWS WHY YOU ARE NOT IN THE ARMY, THE ARMY IS THERE FOR PROFESSIONALS LIKE COMMODORE GARY BEST.
WHEN WAS THE ARMY AN ARMY SINCE ANKOKO.
Your idiotic lines are pure ridicules!!!
No action should be taken against those army interrogaters, others would be to lenient in squeezing crime accused
You made this comment because you want the other bloggers to argue with you, but i am ugring EVERY PEACE LOVING bloggers not to reply to this individual’s ridiculous statement!!!
Excellent point and well taken Arnold. Everyday we pull up SN and all we see is CRIME CRIME CRIME. And EVERYONE of us say “these crimes must stop”, de govt. ain’t have a clue how to stop this crime situation”, “we want these criminal to be stopped”, “stop these criminals from killing our innoent women and children”, “dats why we can’t come home fuh a lil holiday cause of too much crime” etc. etc. Well now we finally caught some of the criminals alive and we must know how they’re organised and what strength they posess. Arnold, yuh damn right.
if there is no torture then the army should not take any action against these officers, because criminals need more that roughing up to crack a case.
Illegal Immigrants need a lil roughing up in Guantamano Bay too!!! Are you up for a dance there Lambada??
You, Commodore Gary Best and the Guyana Defence Force, is
already looking bad, very bad, I have never heard of Torturing or
Roughing-up in the GDF under President Burnham or Hoyte, but
it is happening right in your face at camp ayanganna under the PPP.
You are getting Butter, Peanut Butter and Cheese to put on your bread
from the PPP administration.
This is the same PPP Administration that is punishing/refusing to give
the Army the necessary tools to work with, they never “TRUST” the
GDF and Police because you were seen as PNC supporters, 16 years
and they are still untouch.
The Media and the Public have been asking and still will like to have a
private investigation regarding the alledge killings of the 8 miners at
lindo creek.
Well said……but i heard that before……………….say it again let the PPP stooges hear!!
Yes Mr West..You could have never heard of it under Burnham or Hoyte because there was no democracy then. but alll of this and worse went on..If you wish I can give you some examples…Did you ever heard of any ballot box martyrs under the PPP.. This is just one example that I can bring to you now..but I know of thousands, this paper does not permit me the space to respond to you appropriately.You are not up to date of what is taking place in Guyana..The Army has had the biggest budjet ever in the history of this country..a few billions compare to $400,000 under the Hoyte administration. For Mr Sandhurst..you cannot be in the army now ..their intelligence is very high now. This is not about anything else, it is all about facts that you guys are ignorant of.Please be updated…
under president BURNHAM there was far more that torture, there was what you called BALLOT BOXES STEALING IN FRONT OF INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS, GET YOUR FACTS BECAUSE THE JS IS DOING A GREAT JOB CONTAINING BANDITS.
you are so right…no one could ever hear of this under the past pnc….
thats what dictators do best…..
kill free meadia like you are enjoying now….
tell media what to print and not what to print…..
this is what dictators do best……
remember one man was blown to bits and pieces when he challenged the pnc…and its was a gdf officer give him the device to do the dirty deed for the pnc…
and let us not forget the beating Paris took when he said elections were free and fair when pnc lost….you should be thankful for free media these day……
there you go with your Political discrimination. Well I will tell yu now GO TO NEW AMSTERDAM BERBICE AND YOU WILL GET LIVING PROOF(That’s if daay don kill de po man before yu get dea) you may also ask who GDF hit and RUN by the Sheet Anchor turn, canje berbice. These poor people are afraid to say anything.
Channel 10 should have records of such incident
ASK FINEMAN AND SF.
What a disgrace commodore Best. The roughing up that your officers
performed on these suspects is prohibited by the Geneve Convention. Best came
to his officer cadet course, the last year I was in the GDF. I have never taken to him
because he was standoffish at marine corps. This torture will be addressed by the
UN. Take a look at Augusto Pinochet!!! and how the long arm of International justice
caught up with him even to the very end. This poor crop of officers must be weeded out.
Best’s report means diddly squat in the eyes of the international public. On the
other hand, the lovers of TORTURE who blog at this site NEED TO BE
ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.
Again I ask, who are the criminals????? And under this PPP government there
are sure mega criminals and criminality. Submit the folder to the United Nations Human Rights Division.
“Keep it “LIT”
“Love and “Light”
if Dunn and others have the evidence they really should go international. I would like to see the harm done by these people who are suppose protect their nation
What UN? where was the UN when the PNC was torturing Guyanese like myself for standing up for our democratic rights, the govt and JS are dealing with hard core criminals and they are applying the necessary pressure to get them to sing just like the US using the waterboarding against terrorists
Since the Board of Inquiry found the officers were guilty of ‘roughing up’ these men who were never charged with any crime, it is fitting that the public knows what disciplinary action was taken. To say they might have been stripped of rank is not punishment enough. They can always be promoted within a year, especially given how the President shuffled the deck and caused senior men to be by-passed so people like Gary Best can come from below and become army chief of staff. Besides, the PPP is known for promoting people it likes.
I say that the full report on torture should be made available to the United Nations and let’s have an independent opinion rendered. I don’t trust the political culture in Guyana to represent truth, especially when politics is involved.
According to one news report, the President said he refused to publish the names of the officers involved in the torture allegations (that have been reduced to ‘roughing up’), for fear of retaliation against the officers given the body of evidence. However, in another news report, he had no concern about the potential for retaliation when he revealed to the public the name of a private citizen (Omali Rogers) as a criminal, even though the President himself said he had no evidence.
The President reportedly said the man is walking around free right now because of a lack of evidence, but he is convinced the man drove the vehicle that carried the criminal gang to Christmas Falls where the hideous attacks took place against the miners.
What will he say if some people who are angered by the deaths of their loved ones at Christmas Falls believed him and decided to go after Omali Rogers? Is this how he perceives justice in Guyana today?
They were expecting a big fat compensation from the govt that is why they cried torture, knowing that nothing is in the pipeline he held on to his job which is good, Guyanese knows that an investigation of that magnitude where guns are involved and are used to rob and terrorize peaceful, hard working citizens a little squeezing is ok to try and get them to squeal, they had a responsibility to protect those guns
AND THE PPP REGIME HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE BORDERS FROM CRIMINALS ENTERING WITH GUNS AND DRUGS,
MAYBE THEY NEED A LITTLE SQUEEZING OR ROUGHING UP HOW
ABOUT THAT COOLIEMAN??
CDR Best you are joking, the army is already looking bad, and all you are doing is covering up the incident of torture, the public is not stupid, one wouldn’t make allegation if it isn’t true, one day the truth will come out no matter how long it takes, remember it was done in the iraq with the consent of the u.s govt and it came to light,and many were disciplined. So mr. best continue doing what you are doing, remember moon run till day catch um.
Guyana if the first so call democracy that public issue is done in so much secrecy with no consideration for the affected party. Such an approach to these issues one serves to fester animosity and anger among the citizenry. It is time for all decent minded Guyanese and members of civil society to advocate for a change in this approach to national issues.
These people are afraid for their lives and their jobs (if they have one) I can write a book on incidents that I have wittnessed over the years while on holiday in Berbice. THE ONES wearing TAX-PAYERS CLOTHS are a set of BULLY they should be CULTURED. There was also incident where the commissioner was Totally not aware of what his UNDER-DOG was carry on with (WAATIN FU BRIBE) you just have to wittness things yourself or wait FU WEN MOUTH OPEN AN STORY JUMP OUT! We do have to give JACK his JACKET when he deserves it. and the GOVERNMENT has to make sure that the ONE BAD HERRING does not spoil the WHOLE LOT