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Opposition condemns Jagdeo’s attack on judiciary
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton
– Welcome observers
Kaieteur News – The political opposition has condemned Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s attack on the judiciary. Both leaders of the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the People’s National Congress for Reform (PNCR) in their respective press conferences on Friday condemned the Vice President’s comments on electoral fraud cases during his weekly press conference on Thursday.
Jagdeo said,Given what happened in Venezuela and what we saw in Georgetown, it is vital to reflect on democracy, especially now that the trials of those who were identified by the Commission of Inquiry as attempting to steal the election results in favor of the APNU/AFC have begun. We have waited a long time to get to this stage.”
“The last attempt was dismissed by the chief justice and the trial has begun. And, you see a similar pattern now, with prosecutors expressing frustration that defense counsel has repeatedly and needlessly tried to delay the trial by raising frivolous objections. And more often than not, those objections are accepted,” he added.
The Vice President confidently told reporters that his view on the ongoing trial is that “this matter will ultimately be resolved by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Therefore, if these records are not to be retained in the court, it is vital that they are made public so that what is presented and the testimonies of the witnesses are available in the media and elsewhere.”
Furthermore, “it is critical to get the international community’s attention on this.” They urged that those who seek to undermine public office, democracy and the will of the people must be prosecuted. Now we are at the stage where we invite them to watch the courtroom drama unfold.” He added.
Reacting to Jagdeo’s remarks, PNCR leader Aubrey Norton said, “The Opposition firmly condemns Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent attack on the judge presiding over the electoral matters trial, the nine accused, their lawyers and the administration of justice in Guyana.”
Norton went on to say that Jagdeo’s attack on the judiciary is “a malicious and unwarranted assault on the integrity of the Magistrate and the administration of justice in general, alleging that the Magistrate entertained frivolous objections, failed to record evidence and concealed evidence; and threatening at the outset of the proceedings to refer the Court’s decision to the Caribbean Court for review. These baseless allegations are a clear attempt to place the Court and the administration of justice in the public shadow of their former selves from the outset of the proceedings.”
AFC leader Nigel Hughes
The PNCR leader stressed that the law should run freely without political interference and that his party also stayed away from the matter so that justice could be served as it should be, but they paused to “condemn the government’s evil attempt to create fear through threats in court and the harm it is causing to the good people of this country by spreading lies and misleading information.”
He went on to say that the Vice President’s invitation to international observers and the international community to observe the open proceedings of the Court could only be seen as an attempt to coerce the Court into finding the accused guilty.
“The Vice President’s invitation to international observers and the international community to observe a trial which is public in nature and whose purpose is ‘to ensure that in the future persons or public officials who have a legal or constitutional responsibility do not go unpunished, which they have in this case discharged in a partial and corrupt manner’ can only be seen as an attempt to compel the court to convict the accused of the crime charged, regardless of the admissible evidence before the court.”
Meanwhile, lawyer and AFC leader Nigel Hughes said in a press conference on Friday that “the Vice President’s remarks, apart from their intemperance, clearly demonstrate the fact that the executive believes that non-professionals, i.e. non-lawyers, have the right to make adverse comments on decisions made by sitting judges during the proceedings.”
The lawyer explained that the law provides that during the trial of a case, the decision of the judge can be appealed, and the prosecution also has this option. However, “in this case, the vice president, who has considerable power in the country, decided to attack the judge and the decision she made.”
Hughes expressed support for the Vice President’s suggestion to have international observers and the international community present to witness the trial proceedings and welcomed any international observers and local observers to attend as trials in Guyana, except for sexual offences, are conducted in public.
“So we welcome any observers, and I believe that whether the observers are citizens or foreigners, their presence will not have an impact on the conduct of the case or on the conduct of the lawyers or the magistrates,” he said.
Expressing the party’s confidence in the ability of the bench, the judiciary and the sheriff, Hughes said: “No one knows how the case will turn out and we certainly do not think it is acceptable to attack the bench during a case, we certainly do not think it is acceptable, but we welcome observers.”
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