'People still want to know why their sons died'
-Fresh calls for death squad inquiry
Sunday, April 17th 2005


The recent findings about the existence of groups of hired killers have prompted calls for a wider investigation into their activities and the post-jailbreak violence believed to have spawned their formation.

Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj was cleared of any involvement in extra judicial killings, but the commission investigating him also noted the existence of several groups of killers that were involved in contractual killings.

Despite the Commission's findings there are still many questions left unanswered about the abduction and murder of more than thirty men between 2002 and 2003.

"Even if Gajraj goes soon... that can't be the end of it," PNCR MP Debra Backer says. "To have closure on this we need to have a proper inquiry... because dozens of young men are dead and many are still missing and their families don't know what happened." Although the Government has urged stakeholders to accept the findings of the commission to put the issue to rest, Backer points out that that while the PNCR was calling for the Minister to step down, the party had also endorsed the call for an investigation into allegations of the wider death squad phenomena.

The party, with the other Parliamentary Opposition, also urged a wider investigation into the criminal violence of 2002/03, including the Buxton scenario, from its genesis in the 2002 jailbreak.

Backer noted that even before the jailbreak the party had moved a motion in the house for a probe of the operations of the police force after persistent allegations of extra-judicial killings and this later led to the formation of the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC). On this point, she noted that the government was willing to consult on the membership of the panel, but last year refused to consult on the Commission of Inquiry that investigated the Minister, despite the fact that that situation was much more serious.

Now, she says, a Commission of Inquiry into the violence and the emergence of the groups would still have its benefits.

But she noted that the panel and its mandate would have to be composed based on the broad-based consensus of the parliamentary political parties, civil society and any other groups. "People still want to know why their sons died and there are still people unaccounted for..." Backer noted.

"...Ideally, we would have a Commission of Inquiry to bring [them] closure and to bring recommendations to ensure that it does not happen again," she added. In this vein, Backer pointed out that given the extent of the drug problem facing the country there is always a high possibility of contract killings and extra-judicial killings and she suggested that this could have also been one of the reasons for the evolution of the death squad phenomena.

She noted that a critical adjunct to ensuring that there is no re-emergence of these groups is the development of the police force. She pointed out that the mere fact that there was a call for a commission tells of the fact that the force is not performing as it should and she says it is for this reason that training the men and women of the force properly remains pivotal.

Promised

Backer is not alone. ROAR Guyana Movement leader Ravi Dev says that there is need for a fuller investigation given the report's findings that violence in the society precipitated the emergence of the groups of hired killers.

"That has to be investigated because we still do not have an understanding of what happened on the East Coast. Therefore, whatever the causes, the conditions may again lead to further violence," Dev said in a brief interview.

He said this was at the heart of the calls by ROAR and the other Parliamentary Opposition parties when they protested the restrictive Terms of Reference of the Presidential Commission. As a result, "the report does not go to the heart of the matter but it pointed to a chain of causation," Dev noted.

But he noted that at the time the Commission was set up the President did promise that the government would give serious thought to a wider investigation of the post-jailbreak violence.

In May last year, at the announcement of the establishment of the Commission, President Jagdeo said, "At a subsequent time, an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the February 23, 2002 jailbreak, the plight of victims of criminal violence and political linkages to the 2002/03 crime wave will be seriously considered."

Dev, however, notes that there is now complete silence on this wider investigation.

'Necessary, but

not now'

Guyana Human Rights Associa-tion Co-President Mike McCormack agrees that the commission's findings do warrant a fuller probe into the killings and the post-jailbreak violence, including the violence that occurred on the East Coast Demerara. However, according to him, while the human rights group believes that the "death squad" phenomenon cannot be understood outside of the larger phenomenon of East Coast violence, the country's unstable political landscape would not be conducive to such a probe and could in fact inflame more violence.

"We didn't think then or do now that we have the political consensus sufficiently strong to allow an investigation of the alleged acts that will not end up being seen through a political lens," McCormack explains.

He acknowledged the circumstantial evidence that suggests a political dimension to the violence, but emphasised that "If we are going to try to understand what went on, that [political] dimension of it cannot be successfully undertaken until there is a political climate mature enough to see the truth. And if you do it before you risk just adding fuel to smouldering enmity."

However, notwithstanding his reservations about the prospects of an inquiry to learn the truth, McCormack believes that the police force is capable of properly investigating the phenomena, once Minister Gajraj has been removed from office.

"The removal of the Minister is a sine qua non for [a proper investigation] to happen. It won't happen while he is in office... [Because] the minister symbolises a lot of what is wrong and you cannot maintain that symbol..." he says.

"We are not saying he is personally responsible but he symbolises the responsibility, and while he is in office there is no acknowledgement that this was wrong."

He noted that there were serious allegations about the involvement of certain members of the police force in a number of contract killings. He feels that this contributed partly to the demoralisation of the force at that time because senior officers, though aware of these happenings, were unable to do anything due to political interference. McCormack believes that the reduction of the political influence over the police force would eliminate the protection of those elements in the force and coupled with promised law reforms, a criminal investigation would be feasible.

Citing the breakdown in law and order due to the inability of the police to maintain security, the findings of the Commission of Inquiry report says, "... Such a state of affairs provided fertile ground for others not to rely on the forces of law and order... In this context, it is not difficult to conceive that Axel Williams, [name given] and others of their ilk could have been attracted to and involved in extra-legal executions at the behest of private individuals."

Williams and his associates were linked to two murders and two attempts on the life of businessman Lloyd Hazel. But apart from the November 2002 Diwali night murders, the commission did not probe other deaths that occurred during the crime wave since its Terms of Reference limited the scope of the investigation. But it did suggest in general terms that, "the victims were always involved or allegedly involved in some criminal activity which provoked extra-legal responses in the absence of effectiveness from the legitimate law enforcement agency." This was based on the evidence that was given by police witnesses. It added that the evidence suggested that some of those responses were expressed in "extreme conduct through the agency of Axel Williams and some of his associates." The report goes on to say, "The commission does not take the view that the Axel Williams group was the only group of hired killers."