…calls for Roger Khan’s arrest on arrival in Guyana

HUNDREDS of persons have signed on to a petition calling for President David Granger to immediately launch an investigation into the extra-judicial killings that occurred under the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration.

They are demanding that the intellectual authors of the state-sponored murders, as well as their hired assassins, be brought to justice. On Tuesday, the petition was submitted to the Ministry of the Presidency addressed to President Granger by the Executive of Mourning Families and Friends in White – a committee of the Ghana Day Organisation.

The committee – Mourning Families and Friends in White – was formed with the intention of seeking justice for “the State-sponsored Right Wing Death Squad murders” that occurred under the People’s Progression Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration led by Bharrat Jagdeo.

The committee said former Minister of Agriculture, Satydeow Sawh; Political Activist, Ronald Waddell; and one-man Protestor, Courtney Crum-Ewing were among the hundreds of persons brutally murdered during the PPP/C’s reign in office. Reference was also made to the disappearance of Franz Britton also known as Collie Wills, who was reportedly last seen being bundled into a silver grey car, allegedly by the late Superintendent of Police, Leon Fraser, himself killed in mysterious circumstances.

The Committee, in the Petition, told the President that it is time the perpetrators be brought to justice, noting that “there are many children who would have lost a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, (or) a cousin.” “…These murders would have occurred during the tenure of the terror that was condoned by the PPP/C government; the painful trauma, and the inevitable psychological toll that have been exacted on the families and friends of these victims of state brutality and murder cannot be overemphasised,” a section of the petition states.

Ahead of submission to the President, Chairperson of the Mourning Families and Friends in White, Catherine Penda Guyan said the committee is imploring Government to open an investigation into the mass killings now that convicted drug-trafficker Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan has been released from U.S prison. Between 2003 and 2006, Khan formed a criminal network here, including active policemen and a number of former ranks, that targeted persons ‘perceived’ to be criminals but at the same time protected his narco-trafficking interests. A large number of persons also reportedly went missing.

“So we think that it is very important at this point in time because the families are reliving their nightmares now that they realise that Roger Khan has been released from prison, and they are told, whether true or false, that he is supposed to be coming back here to Guyana. Can you imagine how they feel because they are so afraid? They are reliving the nightmares because of what happened when he was attached and a part of the phantom squad,” Guyan told Guyana Chronicle.

She said the issue of extra-judicial killings has been placed on the back burner for far too long, and it is time the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government reopen investigations into these murders, in keeping with a commitment made by President Granger. Guyan said the time for justice is now.

“They can’t have closure, they can’t have closure, you could never have closure for something like this but if you see that something is being done then it helps to alleviate the suffering,” the Chairperson explained. It was made clear that intention is not have compensation but justice for those victims who had their lives cut short.

“I don’t think compensation is the factor right now. I mean if that comes, it comes (but) that’s not the focus…What they are focusing on is justice. I think this is something that people don’t understand, for me, as a mother, no amount of money can compensate me for the loss of my child.

It is just knowing that something is being done to alleviate my suffering a little. You will never get rid of the pains, the aches but at least you feel a little better when you know that the perpetrators are being brought to justice. It gives you that sort of satisfaction, it gives you relief to know that something is being done, and I think this is the focus,” Guyan explained.

Though the request was not stated in the petition, Guyan said the Mourning Families and Friends in White is also calling on the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government to have Khan arrested upon his arrival and charged for murder. According to her, there are persons who, despite being fearful, are willing to step forward and provide critical evidence.

“I think right now, people are still timid, they are still a little fearful but if they know that something is being done and they see that people are brave enough to say, look, we are not afraid, they will come forward,” she said.

Jagdeo was President of Guyana from August 11, 1999 to December 3, 2011, during which there were three massacres: Lusignan where 11 people were killed, Bartica where another 12 were killed and Lindo Creek, where seven miners were slaughtered. Besides, there were countless extra-judicial killings, with some activists estimating that around 400 Afro-Guyanese males were gunned down. Khan had operated his gang between 2003 and 2006. In a public advertisement, drug-trafficker, who was arrested in 2006, contended that he was fighting crime on behalf of the Jagdeo-led government.

While Jagdeo demitted office in 2011, it would appear that extra-judicial killings continued under his successor, Donald Ramotar. The bullet-riddled body of Courtney Crum-Ewing was found at Third Avenue, Diamond New Scheme, EBD, just days before the May 11, 2015 elections. He was shot twice to the temple, once to the back of the head and twice to the stomach.

Crum-Ewing’s mother, Donna Harcourt, and foster-father Eustace Harcourt formed part of the team that petitioned the President, and called for justice to be served. “The person arrested is not the author of that murder. Courtney does not know him, and he doesn’t know Courtney, so there was no conflict, and so it included intellectual authors,” Eustace Harcourt said.

He alluded to the fact that days before Crum-Ewing was murdered, he had protested the Office of the then Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall. On that basis, and ‘evidence’ made known to him, Eustace Harcourt is convinced that the PPP/C Government had ‘a hand’ in Crum-Ewing’s murder.

He said over the past four years, senior members of the Guyana Police Force have suppressed and obstructed the investigation. “It is really difficult to get a real investigation with these kinds or types of police we have, they are all connected to the last Government and they are bent in keeping this case under wraps,” he contended.

“We want the authors of these heinous crimes to be brought to justice not only the bottom man; that’s the only way we will stop it. And we need to have an investigation launched into the police we have at the helm of the Guyana Police Force,” he added. In 2018, Regan Rodrigues, called ‘Grey Boy’, was committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of Crum-Ewing.