Four more death row prisoners spared from hanging

Chief Justice Ian Chang

Four condemned murder convicts had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment on Wednesday.

Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang on Wednesday granted the applications for the commutation of the sentences of Ganga Deolall, Terrence Sahadeo, and brothers Kornel and Daniel Vaux, after their lawyers argued that their being on death row for well in excess of a decade each and being constantly under the threat of execution by hanging amounted to inhumane and/or degrading punishment.

Chief Justice Ian Chang
Chief Justice Ian Chang

The four men were represented by attorneys of the Legal Aid Clinic, who submitted that their treatment was tantamount to a breach of their clients’ rights as provided for and guaranteed by Article 141(1) of Guyana’s Constitution, which states that “No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhumane or degrading punishment or other treatment.”

Two brothers, Bharatraj and Lallman Mulai, who had been on death row for almost two decades, also had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment by the Justice Chang on Wednesday. The rulings are in line with a previous decision he delivered in June last year, when four other prisoners had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, in light of the amount of time they had been on death row.

The applications for Deolall, Sahadeo and the Vaux brothers were