— call for investigation into era of extrajudicial killing

THE civil group, ‘Mourning Family and Friends in White’, on Tuesday, staged a protest outside the office of the Minister of Public Security calling on the government to launch an investigation into the extrajudicial killings that occurred under the tenure of former President Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP/C administration .

The protesters, numbering over a dozen persons, circled in front of the Ministry of Public Security’s Brickdam office with placards in their hands.

Some of the placards read: “Peoples of Guyana united against death squads, we have nothing to lose but our griefs and pains,”; “No more of Jagdeo and PPP/C, no more massacre,”; “Why the silence of the human rights associations over the extra judicial execution of citizens during Jagdeo/PPP regime”; and “Jagdeo must explain who ordered executions of Ronald Waddell and Courtney Crum Ewing” among others.

Senior police officers were seen along the protest route ensuring that traffic flowed uninterrupted while also making sure the protestors were able to cross the road in a safe and quick manner.

One of the leaders of the group, who identified herself as Sister Penda Guyan, said a petition was done requesting Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan and President, David Granger open an investigation into the extra-judicial killings that occurred under former President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“With the advent of Roger Khan being released, we don’t want a situation that occurred previously in Guyana to once again filter into the community. We are asking that investigations be opened, so that relatives and friends of those that were missing or murdered to have closure or for justice to be done,” she said.

Guyan said the petition was submitted to Minister Ramjattan with a request for it to be presented to President Granger.
“We are also asking that the petition be presented to Parliament and that is the reason for our simple and peaceful protest. We have hundreds of signatures,” she said, adding: “We will continue the protest until the government tells us that they are opening investigations.”
Commenting on the issue of the Leader of the Opposition criticising a recent protest done outside of his Church Street office, Guyan said the killings occurred under Jagdeo’s tenure and it was an appropriate protest.

“Whether he was directly or indirectly involved, it happened during his watch, it was a really horrific time,” she said. Adding: “We are asking the gov’t to speed up the investigations as Roger Khan is expected soon.”

Khan was arrested in 2006 in Suriname in a sting operation that Surinamese Police said netted more than 200 kilograms of cocaine – the biggest cocaine haul in Suriname of that year.

Khan, who is alleged to be the former leader of the notorious ‘Phantom Squad’, was extradited immediately to the US since he reportedly fled from that country several years before to avoid charges.

On October 16, 2009, Khan was jailed for conspiracy to import cocaine into the US, witness tampering and illegal possession of firearms.

He is expected to be released from the US prison in July but has continuously been asking the US courts for an early release based on good conduct during his imprisonment.