PUBLIC hearings of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Lindo Creek massacre will open this morning at the CoI Secretariat, Ministry of the Presidency, Department of the Public Service, Waterloo Street, Georgetown.

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has been established to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the killings of Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Lancelot Lee, Compton Speirs, Nigel Torres and Clifton Berry Wong, on or about the 21st day of June, 2008 and to report its findings and recommendations to His Excellency Brigadier David Granger, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Commissioner Justice Donald Trotman CCH, will engage stakeholders on the following dates: February 15th , 19th to the 22nd of February, 2018.

The CoI was established:- to investigate and make findings of fact on all matters in relation to the killings of the eight miners in the Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice region on or about 2008.06.21. It will also make recommendations on actions to be taken against all persons and /or organisations that are deemed responsible for the deaths of those persons.
The commission will be accepting original and follow-up statements from interested parties during its life and will be setting subsequent hearings, to facilitate the attendance of witnesses.

According to a notice from the secretariat, all persons wishing to testify are asked to submit statements of their intended testimonies in writing to the commission prior to their appearing before it. Persons who wish to testify, but may need assistance in composing their witness statements will be assisted by the Commission’s Secretariat and are invited to contact the secretariat at the email address and/or telephone number lindocoi@dps.gov.gy or 227-2292

Justice Trotman brings to the Commission of Inquiry a vast range of relevant experience in the international legal arena at the highest levels. He had headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Grenada ,working closely with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. Other key positions held by Justice Trotman include: UNESCO Rapporteur on the legal and international implications of Satellite broadcasts in the Caribbean and Latin America; Visiting Professor of International Law at the University of Baghdad; Amnesty International – British Lawyers’- Coordinator for Campaign against Torture and for African Affairs; United Nations Human Rights travel fellowship/ Assignment on Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Canada and Nigeria, and attachment to the UN Human Rights Division at UN Headquarters, New York; Attachment to European Commission on Human Rights ;Carnegie Endowment fellow of the Hague Academy and Hague Centre for International Law and International Relations, Netherlands; Rapporteur and presenter, International Symposium on Regional /Integration in the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, and of Iraq and Kuwait ; Member of the Panel of Experts and Chairman of the Human Rights section of the Washington-based World Peace Through Law Centre; Caribbean coordinator and presenter, Carter Center’s hemispheric symposium on human rights at Emory University USA; Member of Board of Advisers, MDG Global Watch .