Dear Editor,
EVERY hour of judicial time devoted to one case is an hour that cannot be given to another citizen waiting for justice.
Across Guyana, victims, defendants, families and litigants appear before the courts hoping their matters will be heard and determined within a reasonable time. Many do not have teams of senior lawyers, unlimited resources or the ability to sustain months of litigation. They simply wait, sometimes under great personal and financial pressure, for their opportunity to be heard.
Against that background, the pace of the extradition proceedings involving Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, is becoming increasingly difficult to understand. Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman has cautioned against rushing the proceedings, but requiring focus, discipline and reasonable expedition is not rushing justice. It is responsible case management.
The court must certainly allow the defence to test the evidence. It must also protect its proceedings from unnecessary repetition, excessive detours and arguments that consume considerable time without advancing the central issue to be determined.
This is an extradition hearing, not the trial of the charges contained in the United States indictment. The Magistrates’ Court is required to determine whether the established legal conditions for committal have been satisfied. The guilt or innocence of the two men is for the appropriate trial court, should extradition ultimately be ordered.
What message is therefore being sent when a case of this nature cannot be completed with reasonable dispatch?
Our courts frequently speak about backlogs, limited resources and the need for greater efficiency. Those concerns cannot be separated from what occurs inside individual courtrooms. Judicial time is a public resource, and its management affects every citizen with a matter awaiting determination.
The court can protect the rights of the Mohameds while establishing firm timelines, limiting repetitive submissions and ensuring that witnesses complete their evidence without unnecessary delay. These obligations are entirely compatible.
The question is rather straightforward: “If an ordinary Guyanese appeared before the Magistrates’ Court, would the system demonstrate this same patience, permit this same use of judicial time and tolerate the current pace of the extradition hearing?”.
Equality before the law must be seen, felt and experienced by every citizen.
Yours faithfully,
Attiya Baksh