Serious crimes against humanity belong no where in public office

Nov 13, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Two weeks ago, Guyana police brutally tortured and maimed a 14-year-old boy at Leonora Police Station where the Force’s “D” Division is headquartered.
They also tortured and maimed Deonarine Rafick, apparently fracturing his skull. These barbaric and evil acts of torture are the cruelest crimes against humanity, committed by police officers in the Western Hemisphere in modern history.
The two were tortured in connection with the murder of ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) official, Ramnauth Bisram.  Guyanese citizens are routinely tortured as an instrument of law enforcement whenever criminal investigations involve the pursuit of justice in the interest the ruling PPP.
Their modus operandi is to create structures and militias outside of the legitimate State security apparatus; comprising of political thugs and loyal police and army officers. These Schutzstaffel (SS) or Gestapos are granted carte blanche licence to, with impunity, rampage through the society with unrivaled political venom to, like Taliban mujahideens, seek, torture and destroy any person believed to be guilty,. The upshot is arrant criminality like that which was perpetrated on the 14-year-old.
The torture of the 14-year-old boy was especially brutal and sadistic. Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), who were tasked with investigating Bisram’s murder, having failed to coerce him to give up presumed information on the murder, then beat him with a baton about the head and ears. They then stapled his genitals and doused it with a flammable liquid and lit him afire. He sustained third degree burns in the genital area. These inhumane, evil acts deserve capital prosecution and sanction.
What is even more abhorrent is that the depraved detectives held the teen in prison with no access to medical treatment, his parents or an attorney for four days. He was only taken to a hospital five days later, after his torture was leaked to and reported in the press,  and was condemned by the Guyana Bar Association and a group of prominent lawyers.
There are indications that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) attempted to cover-up these barbaric acts. They launched an investigation into who leaked the crime to the media and how a photographer gained access to the victim. The police’s immediate reaction was repugnant to the course of justice, and speaks to the priority of the police leadership. Their attempted cover-up constitutes obstruction of justice and malfeasance in office. Those involved should be removed and prosecuted.
The revelation of the brutal torture of the 14-year-old is providential, as President Jagdeo recently boasted that his human rights record can withstand scrutiny and is better than any past President. This would be true if he were juxtaposing that record with “Jack the Ripper,” Saddam Hussein, Agusto Pinochet or the Taliban. This ostentatious claim reveals a sick, narcissistic mind that is in denial of its bedlam.
Notwithstanding their mendacious refutations, President Bharrat Jagdeo and his government have openly countenanced torture. Dozens of citizens have been tortured for political reasons, under President Jagdeo, amidst implausibly denials and cover-ups.  Members of the security forces have committed hundreds of extra-judicial killings; killed and robbed eight diamond miners; acted as contract killers for drug dealers and former National Security Minister, Ronald Gajraj and have entered the prisons and murdered remanded prisoners – all with impunity and no investigation. Hasn’t Jagdeo any sense of shame and dishonour?
Recently, Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs and National Security, Clement Rohee and Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, had the effrontery to argue in Parliament that several individuals who were tortured with electric shock, maimed and burnt, including three Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officers who were tortured in connection with missing GDF AK-47 rifles, were not tortured but that their treatment amounted to “roughing-up.”
This idiotic baloney was later repeated by GDF Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best, while defending criminal torture techniques. Commodore Best further demonstrated contempt for the rule of law, by positing that the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment “defines torture too broadly.”  Best’s contention is preposterous and repugnant to the constitution and international law. It warrants stern rebuke.
Caught within their torture chamber, Minister Rohee now claims that the government “abhors” torture. But his postulations are a phony, ostentatious, Rip Van Winkle-like argument of necessity; proffered only because their agents were caught “red-handed” in the torture chamber mutilating a child.   The lawlessness espoused by Ministers Rohee and Persaud, Commodore Best and government officials, have manifestly created the enabling criminal milieu in which the torture of 14-year-olds and adults occur with impunity. The PPP government countenances and gives succor this reckless and depraved disregard for human life – serious crimes against humanity, belong no where in public office, and must be held to account.
Those who promote and commit acts of torture are indistinguishable. They must be removed from office, prosecuted and jailed, as prescribed by extant national and international law.
Several police and army officers with ostensible political alliance to the ruling party have committed barbaric acts of torture. The evidence against them is compelling but they are being protected by the PPP government. President Bharrat Jagdeo fails to realise that he has a constitutional obligation to allow the course of justice to prevail against these individuals. The fundamental tenets of justice and rule of law dictate that such criminals are brought to justice. The PPP government might not allow the law to take its course today. But even if it is 20 years from now, they will be brought to justice. National Security Minister Clement Rohee has called for the interdiction of the Divisional Commanding Officer, Assistant Commissioner Paulette Morrison, for poor supervision of officers under her command. However, making Ms. Morrison the sacrificial lamb will not absolve the government from culpability. She did not commit, condoned or covered-up acts of torture. The PPP government and the police Commissioner have.  But Minister Rohee’s lack of pedagogic acumen does not permit the understanding that his is being a hypocrite, as Ms. Morrison is under the command of Police Commissioner Henry Greene, over whom Rohee himself has ministerial jurisdiction and that the buck stops at him. Hence by judicious application of his logic, he and Commissioner Greene must accept responsibility for abdicating their statutory and constitutional supervisory duties of the Guyana Police Force, and resign in disgrace.
It is a national ignominy that under Minister Rohee’s government and Police Commissioner Greene, crimes against humanity have proliferated. Torture has been institutionalized as law enforcement techniques. Drug dealers operate above the law in full public view and collaborate with certain government and police officials, who allow their criminal enterprise to flourish, and officials who commit crimes retain the confidence of the President and are even promoted in some instances.
It is obvious that such corruption will not end until the United States Justice Department or prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC)) begin to nab these individuals. Suffice it to say, that I intend to contact US Attorney General, Eric Holder, about this and other matters.
The officers who tortured the 14-year-old child as well as the other individuals must be arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault, prosecuted and jailed. I call on Guyana’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms. Shalimar Ali-Hack, to discard any possible fidelity to the politics, if and where it may exist, and honour her duty to the constitution and proffer indictments in these matters. Not only is her professional integrity at stake but so too is her personal credibility and her commitment to the rule of law and the course of justice.
It is also critical for the matter of torture in Guyana generally, to be publicized in the international community and for torture cases to be filed against the government and against the Guyana Police Force and Army officers at the ICC, Inter-American Human Rights Commission and UN Committee against Torture.
Rickford Burke

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