A Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Registration Officer has filed a $175 million lawsuit against the Guyana Police Force, which she is accusing of breaching her rights and treating her inhumanely during her arrest as part of the investigation of alleged electoral fraud in the aftermath of the March 2020 polls.
In her suit, which lists the Commissioner of Police and Attorney General as defendants, the Claimant, Michelle Miller, said that despite her requests, she was interrogated in the absence of her attorney.
She claims investigators told her, “You do not need a lawyer, you are not charged with anything.”
Miller deposes in her statement of claim that her troubles with the police began on August 26, 2020, when she was arrested and taken from the Criminal Investigation Department, Eve Leary; to La Parafaite Harmonie Police Station and then back to Eve Leary.
She says after being in the custody of the police for some hours, she tested her blood sugar and recorded a “dangerously high level” and explained to the police officers that she had had “nothing proper” to eat and was feeling unwell after their interrogation of her.
Miller, who said described herself as a “chronic hypertension” patient, says that even after the eventual arrival of her attorney, investigators denied her request to seek medical attention and only relented after multiple pleas from her lawyer.
Miller says she would spend the next four days under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital and upon her discharge the police returned for her.
As arrangements were being made to escort her to the Brickdam Police Station, her blood pressure spiked again. This, she notes, resulted in her readmission to the hospital for an additional two days.
She says on September 1, 2020, after her second discharge and despite being given sick leave and her doctors’ orders to rest and take her medication “at home,” the police returned for her and immediately took her back into their custody.
She adds that the police were at all material times fully aware of her prognosis, treatment, sick leave and what she described her “precarious health condition.”
The Claimant says that after sitting on a bench at Eve Leary for about 15 minutes, her attorney arrived but they were prohibited from speaking with each other.
Despite her lawyer’s enquiries about her continued detention, Miller says she was again interrogated by investigators and again in the absence of counsel.
Miller says that she had been in the custody of police from about 11am, when she was discharged, to 9pm that night by which time she was feeling faint, having not been able to rest as her doctors had instructed.
She adds that she was placed on $100,000 bail and allowed to leave the station with the order to return and to report on September 14th, 2020. Upon her return, she says, she was told that a video interview needed to be conducted. In response, she told the police she was not expecting to stay for hours as she hadn’t eaten anything.
Although she arrived at the station at about 2:30pm that day, she claims, the interview did not take place until about 4:06pm. A little over an hour later, she added, she was told “to sit and await further instructions.”
She says she was thereafter instructed to return the following day. With that day being her Sabbath, however, Miller says she suggested returning a day later “in order to preserve the sanctity of [her] religious beliefs.”
Her and her lawyer’s requests for this were, however, denied.
Through her attorney, Eusi Anderson, Miller is seeking a number of declarations against the Commissioner of Police, including that at the hospital and in police custody, her right to medical attention, protection of personal liberty and protection of freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Constitution, were breached. The Claimant also contends that her constitutional right to protection of freedom of conscience was violated as well as her right to counsel and to protection from inhuman treatment; for which she is also seeking declarations.
Altogether, she is seeking $175,000,000 in damages for the alleged breaches.
She is also asking for interest on that sum and any further order the court deems just to grant.
