Leader of the Alliance for Change, Raphael Trotman will press the case for an independent commission of inquiry into the Lindo Creek murders when he meets President Bharrat Jagdeo today to further discuss the issue.
Though the President has indicated that a much wider inquiry would be conducted if the administration goes that route the AFC leader will note his party’s disapproval with this since according to the party, an inquiry into the Lusignan and Bartica killings will be too wide and diluted to address the specific concerns about the possible involvement of the security forces in the recent massacre in the Berbice River.
In a press statement last evening, the AFC said named persons have already been held responsible for the Lusignan and Bartica massacres while the security forces continue to track down the perpetrators.
“To include these crimes in an inquiry with that of the Lindo Creek massacre would be to send a dangerous and confusing message that the police force was mistaken in January and February of this year”, the statement said.
But if the President insists on holding a wider inquiry, the AFC said, a holistic study of crime and security problems which have plagued the nation since 2002 should be done, adding that this review should include the prison escapees, and the activities of drug indicted businessman Roger Khan.
The AFC stated that an independent inquiry imbued with judicial powers to summon witnesses and depose them under oath is the only way through which the families of the eight men who were slaughtered, and Guyanese both home and abroad will feel a sense of justice and satisfaction.
Further, the party noted that a forensic pathologist with international experience should be made available to such a commission.
