The date for the completion of the Linden Commission of Inquiry report has not yet been determined although the commissioners are expected to gather back in Guyana for a further hearing involving persons who were injured and those who suffered losses.
“I don’t know if the date has been fixed for the completion of the report,” Secretary to the COI, Attorney Ronald Burchsmith yesterday told Stabroek News.
The commission is made up of Chief Justice of Jamaica Lensley Wolfe, Senior Counsel K D Knight, both of Jamaica, Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal of Trinidad and Tobago and Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh and former Chancellor of the Judiciary Cecil Kennard of Guyana.
The members of the commission inquiring into the events of July 18 at Linden were identified to also serve as the assessors of compensation.
At the closing of the COI hearings, Commissioner KD Knight had said that he and his colleagues are considering returning in January but owing to personal and professional commitments they could not guarantee a date.
The commission was expected to inquire and report on the circumstances surrounding the shooting to death of Allan Lewis, Ron Somerset and Shemroy Bouyea and the injury of several others at the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge.
Specifically, the inquiry was mandated to look at which unit was deployed at the bridge and what was its composition and at its training, individually and collectively, in preparation for the crowd control operation. It will also determine whether the fatal shootings were committed by the police deployed on the bridge and, if so, who gave the order to fire and whether the police had justification for the use of lethal force at the scene.
The instructions given to the detachment as well any instructions that may have been given by the Home Affairs Minister to the police force to maintain law and order in Linden immediately before, during and immediately after the events on July 18, form part of the terms of the inquiry as well.
Apart from the shooting, the commission’s mandate includes inquiring into the nature of the violence and destruction and its perpetrators that immediately followed the July 18 shooting. Further, it is to make recommendations to assist the police in “effectively and professionally discharging their responsibilities for the maintenance of law and order” in Linden and other communities without endangering their own safety and that of innocent persons. They also include making recommendations for compensation where necessary for injury, loss or damage as a consequence of the events of July 18.
The police force was criticised for the use of force after ranks opened fire on residents protesting near the bridge, despite its claims that they were provoked.
