The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) is calling for the immediate appointment of a body to seriously investigate torture allegations levelled against the Guyana Defence Force by several soldiers who were implicated in the theft of an AK-47 rifle from the army’s main base last year.
Joining the Guyana Human Rights Association and the PNCR in condemning the alleged abuse of the soldiers, the GPSU said in a statement yesterday that should it be the case that persons are found guilty of the perpetration of torture, they should be dealt with condignly with a view to ensuring that this pattern of behaviour is stamped out.
The union said it is with concern and alarm that it noticed the callous manner in which representatives of the present regime in Guyana treated “serious accusations of torture of citizens by members of the Disciplined Forces in Guyana”. In this respect, it is noteworthy that both the President and the Minister of Home Affairs have treated such accusations with disdain and contempt in the face of provisions of the constitution of Guyana expressly prohibiting such practices, the GPSU said. According to the union it is of the view that fair-minded Guyanese should dissociate themselves from the attitude of the President and the Minister of Home Affairs in this matter. “Since, it is well known and accepted that allegations of torture should be treated seriously as crimes against humanity as is exemplified by the reaction which such practices recently evoked in Iraq and the American Base in Guantanamo, Cuba, the people of Guyana should be seriously concerned that the flippant attitude of functionaries of their government (is) likely to serve as encouragement to those against whom accusations are made and be interpreted as licence to continue with such primitive and unacceptable practices,” GPSU said.
Sharth Robertson, Alvin Wilson and Michael Dunn have all complained to this newspaper about being brutalized by members of the GDF Military Criminal Investigation Department. The men said that they were among other things shocked, immersed in a gutter and whipped with a metal pipe. The GDF for its part said that it was not aware of such actions but would investigate.
