The dossier, compiled by the PNCR, the AFC, GAP, the WPA and the NFA, chronicles a decade and a half of unlawful killings and warns that a failure to launch an international investigation could fuel a cycle of hatred that could stoke the return of violence. Addressing the alleged link between the government and convicted drug kingpin Roger Khan, the dossier concluded that hundreds of killings committed in the wake of the 2002 jailbreak were the result of a gang “war” between the 2002 Mash Day prison escapees and Khan’s ‘phantom squad.’ It further concluded that both forces were supported by rogue elements of the disciplined forces that were being supported by the government.
Among the contents of the document are a partial list of citizens unlawfully killed by citizens between 1993 and 2002; a partial list of citizens allegedly shot to death [and] otherwise unlawfully killed by the “Black Clothes” squad or other rogue elements of the security services, the “phantom squad,” as well as other instances of extra-judicial killing, execution or assassination; and a full list of extra-judicial and other killings between 1993 and 2009, numbering 449. The parties said that because murders were part of the catalogue, they were committed to the fact that statutes of limitations do not apply.
Also among the contents are reports about the recent torture of a 15-year-old boy, whose genitals were set on fire while he was in the custody of the police. A photo of the boy’s burns was included in the document, although there was concern about its appropriateness.
The goal of the dossier is to establish that there is a sufficient ‘prima facie’ basis to warrant further interrogation of grave human rights abuses by an independent body with the requisite legal authority. At a simple ceremony yesterday at City Hall, copies of the dossier were handed over to representatives of several local groups as well as foreign missions, members of the media as well as some members of the public who turned up. A representative of the UK High Commission said that the mission would examine the dossier carefully as well as further action by the joint opposition. Although he noted that there are international standards to which the UK is very committed, including human rights, he said a way forward would not depend on the international community but the local institutions and the people.
AFC leader Raphael Trotman noted that local and regional efforts to get the government to agree to an inquiry were unsuccessful and as a result, the opposition is looking to lobby the UN, the OAS and other organizations for action. To this end, he revealed that the dossier had been handed over to the US State Department. Mean-while, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin emphasised that neither the government nor the police force had demonstrated that it could be trusted with the responsibility for conducting a thorough probe. He said too that dossier was only a first step.
Infernal connections
The revelations of alleged links between the government and Khan, which emerged during the US trial of former Khan lawyer Robert Simels, prompted the joint efforts of the parties. They agreed to compile a comprehensive dossier cataloguing the government’s human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings, torture and complicity with known organised crime gangs and narco-traffickers.
In the dossier, the parties noted that the evidence stemming from the trial of former Khan lawyer Robert Simels revealed many connections between state, organised crime and the political bosses of the ruling party. “It is our contention that these events did not just “happen” and are best understood in the context of other criminal acts and human rights abuses perpetrated against citizens of Guyana,” they noted.
The government has insisted that some opposition parties should be asked whether they are prepared for full disclosure about their role in the tragedies that affected Guyana in the period between 2001 and 2008. For the purposes of an international probe, the joint opposition gave “unequivocal and unreserved” commitment to comply and make their organisations and members fully and freely available to all independent investigations conducted in pursuit of truth in any matters. They note that the parties and their members had always been subject to the law. “None of us, as individuals or organisations, has the capacity or desire to stand above and beyond Guyana’s law, rules and regulations,” they said.
At the same time, the parties stressed that there can be “no moral equivalence” between an inquiry into the joint opposition parties and the call for an inquiry into state actors and those allied to them.
The parties also note that they are still in the process of updating a report on the spate of killings previously undertaken by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), but said that one of the expectations of the inquiry would be a definite ruling on the deaths compiled in the partial lists available, in order to bring some measure of justice and closure to the families and friends of the deceased. They also explained that in the interest of removing “any scintilla of doubt that the Joint Opposition Parties are only concerned with killings” it can lay at the feet of the government-ruling party-security services nexus, they also prepared the full lists of extra-judicial and other killings since 1993. “If the Tribunal requires to interrogate all these killings, we state unequivocally that we would cooperate fully and unconditionally,” they stated.
A body of evidence
According to the dossier, the evidence from the Simels trial, including the testimony of informant Selwyn Vaughn, Co-director of UK firm Smith Myers Peter Myers and Simels himself, was presented by all sides.
Meyers testified in a New York court that the cellular intercept equipment used by Khan had been sold to the Government of Guyana by the company’s Florida sales office through an affiliate. Meyers said it was only sold to governments while Simels’ defence identified Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy as the purchaser of the equipment on behalf of the government-a charge that the minister has repeatedly denied. Vaughn, a US government informant, also linked Ramsammy to Khan, another charge the minister denied. “These witnesses also gave evidence under oath, and were subjected to cross-examination,” the joint opposition said, “Hence, the body of evidence constituted tested testimony.” They emphasised that the revelations of the trial constitute sufficient probative information which should ground and necessitate an inquiry so that the country could bring closure to an ugly period of its history. What is more, they said the circumstances demand “a genuine study” of how the security sector broke down in the period. The parties added, “Surely, in these circumstances an international commission of inquiry must be set up to probe further into what happened, and to recommend what ought to be put in place so as to avoid a recurrence of this ugly history.”
A first step
According to the parties, the “real and perceived” partisanship that would be seen in any local commission in inquiry necessitates an international probe.
Additionally, they felt it would lend more legitimacy to its proceedings, findings and recommendations. “Tepid and ineffectual though it may be when compared to vigorous criminal investigations and prosecutions, such an inquiry is still arguably the more workable public response to the mass atrocity Guyanese suffered between 2002 [and] 2006,” they declared.
Corbin said that the dossier is only the first step in achieving the coalition’s objectives, noting that it world serve as the basis for a continuing campaign for public support as well as an international lobby for an investigation. He said it was necessary to give serious consideration to pursuing the engagement of international courts and to this end he said the best legal advice would be sought.
Corbin did not rule out another appeal to the National Assembly, however, saying it was still hoped that it would review its attitude to the importance of the need to debate the issue. What is more, he noted that the Assembly would have to formally call on the government to support a call for an inquiry. “Because we recognize that there is need for some agreement by the government of Guyana, if an international inquiry without the intervention of the criminal courts is to be initiated,” he said.
According to Corbin, the government is in a panic and he said it would stop at nothing to thwart attempts at initiating an inquiry. As a result, he reiterated the need for a public resolve to support the initiative, adding that it had implications for stability as well as the safety of the people.
WPA Co-Chairman Dr Rupert Roopnaraine called the project the most appalling and distressing activity he had participated in during his thirty-year involvement in producing political documents. “The catalogue of torture, degrading and cruel treatment and murder was really something which one visited with great apprehension and great distress,” he explained.
