Legal counsel for detained ex-army officer Oliver Hinckson believe their client’s rights of freedom of expression, thought and conscience are being trampled upon following his arrest in relation to statements he made on national television. They view the invitation to Mayor Hamilton Green to attend the police station in respect of Hinckson’s statements in the same light, and have condemned
“this dangerous manifestation of thought control as enforced by the Guyana Police Force.”
Hinckson along with ex-army officer Dorian Massay was arrested at Hinckson’s Meadow Brook home on Wednesday morning and both have remained in custody since then, although up to press time last night they still had not been charged, attorney-at-law Gregory Gaskin told this newspaper.
The police, this newspaper has learnt, made an ex-parte application in chambers for an extension of the men’s detention and were granted until Tuesday. Gaskin said he believed that the police would charge the men between tomorrow and Tuesday or otherwise release them.
In a press release yesterday a group calling itself the ‘Free Expression Association’ in which Hinckson’s attorneys were prominent, described the arrest as well as the invitation issued by the police to Green as “a direct frontal assault on the guaranteed and protected rights of freedom of expression, thought and conscience.”
The statement said Articles 145 and 146 of the country’s constitution provided that no one shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of thought, expression or association. It went on to issue an invitation for persons to view in their entirety, the statements made by Oliver Hinckson at a press conference on January 30, 2008.
Asked about reports that Hinckson was liable to face a sedition charge, Gaskin said he did not know whether the lawmen would proceed in this or a similar direction but insisted that nothing Hinckson had said was seditious in nature.
A well-placed source told this newspaper that the men were likely to face the courts tomorrow.
The police had sought to meet with Mayor Hamilton Greene to confirm the statement made by Hinckson during a press conference at City Hall on February 1, but Green had declined following legal advice. Green had told this newspaper that a senior superintendant had asked him on Thursday to go to police headquarters at Eve Leary to confirm statements made by Hinckson at the press conference and he had initially agreed to go. However, he said he subsequently made contact with his lawyer who advised him that there was no need for him to respond to such an invitation. Green said there was no suggestion of criminal intent during his conversation with the officer in addition to which the officer was very cordial.
A police statement on Wednesday night, the same day the arrests were made, said that Hinckson and Massay had been arrested in connection with public statements made prior to the “terrorism activities [inflicted] upon the Bartica community.” The police said they were also searching for other persons allegedly linked to the event which preceded this “terrorist act” in Bartica.
Hinckson and Massay were said to have turned up at City Hall while Green was having his press conference and Green had allowed Hinckson to address the media. It was during this presentation that he had suggested among other things that the recent killings were more than a criminal problem and that all the evidence pointed in that direction.
Hinckson had said that he and other ex-servicemen were prepared, “fully knowing that we do not have a tacit hand or an actual hand in any kind of mischief, but we are prepared to risk our lives, venture into Buxton and assist in some kind of negotiation between the government and the disenchanted.”
Hinckson and ex-soldier James Gibson have pending issues before the court on joint charges of possession of arms and ammunition. On June 6, 2006 the police said they had a .38 pistol, twelve .38 rounds and twenty-six 12-gauge shotgun cartridges in their possession at Lot 115 Aubrey Barker Street, South Ruimveldt. They both denied the allegations and were released on $75,000 bail each.
On Friday night the police issued a bulletin for James Gibson. The police statement said Gibson was wanted for non-appearance at court adding that it was the court which had issued the warrant for his arrest.
Massay, a GDF cadet who had been sent on a course to the UK, returned to Guyana a few years ago after being detained on several charges while on the course. He was later discharged from the army.
