There are at least six allegations of torture pending against the security services and even though there have been denials followed by promises of in-depth probes, the findings of any investigations have still not been made public.
Allegations from Buxton-ians Patrick Sumner, Victor Jones and three of the army’s own – Alvin Wilson, Sharth Robertson and Michael Dunn – surfaced earlier this year. And while in custody a convicted prisoner Edwin Niles was severely beaten as well as being burnt, allegedly at the hands of prison officers. In all these cases the men suffered torture during interrogation. The earlier cases did not result in any deaths, but were serious enough to leave the victims ailing for months.
Prisoner Niles was burnt with a hot liquid on his back. The post- mortem examination conducted by government pathologist Nehaul Singh revealed that the man had died of blood clots in his lungs because of the burns on his back and that he had also sustained a fractured arm. He had completed a day of labour at army base Camp Ayan-ganna and upon a search of his person after returning to the Camp Street prison, officers recovered seven .22 rounds of ammunition from his pants pockets. According to reports the pants Niles was wearing were not his; he had picked them up at the army base.
It was during the course of his interrogation concerning the ammunition that he was reported to have suffered the beating. The Guyana Prison Service has been reluctant to say exactly what happened prior to the man’s hospitalization and subsequent death, confining itself to the statement that Niles had been injured during an altercation with prison officers.
At the hospital the prisoner was not allowed to see any relatives. Although his mother was able to stand at his bedside at least once while he was in pain, she said that he could only have uttered a few words as a prison officer stood close by.
Niles died after being a patient at the hospital for nine days. His relatives, the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) have been insistent in their calls for a thorough investigation into the man’s death. Party leader Robert Corbin had said that there was no question that Niles was murdered and the police had a responsibility to find out who was responsible.
The GHRA called for an “impartial and vigorous investigation into the death of prisoner Edwin Niles and for the matter not to be treated as exempt from the normal processes of the law because the disciplined services are involved.”
Meanwhile Acting Com-missioner of Police Henry Greene in recent comments on the matter told reporters that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would soon decide if charges would be laid against any prison officer in relation to Niles’s death.
Missing weapon
In late November last year the army discovered that one of its AK-47 rifles was missing, quite apart from the 30 which had been discovered missing in February 2006, and following the disappearance of the weapon at least four GDF ranks alleged that they had been tortured during interrogation.
While the GDF had acknowledged that persons were being interrogated during the investigation, a senior officer had denied any act of physical abuse during the process. That officer had said that the army was committed to investigating any act of torture.
Wilson, Robertson, Dunn and several other ranks who were accused of being implicated in the disappearance of the weapon had told of being chocked, pepper–sprayed and whipped with metal pipes by officers attached to the Military Criminal Investigation Department (MCID).
Wilson, who was in charge of the arms stores, had issued the weapon to Robertson, a reservist private. Ten days later when he did a complete check of the stores he discovered the weapon missing and subsequently alerted the high command that the weapon could not be accounted for.
Robertson had claimed that he had returned the weapon but he did not book it in and apparently someone recognizing this had hidden the weapon or stolen it. Wilson told this newspaper that he had been kicked about his rib cage and his false tooth had been smashed by members of the army’s investigating unit. Fifty-three-year-old Wilson who was a retiree serving as a reservist corporal made it clear that he wanted nothing more to do with the army.
Wilson and Dunn were held and then released but Robertson was held for an extended period and Wilson said that from what he had witnessed Robertson had suffered the most at the hands of the investigators.
The army had issued bulletins for both Dunn and Wilson saying they were absent without official leave (AWOL) and both had turned themselves in. Dunn had told this newspaper that he would not return to the military, claiming he had been whipped with a metal pipe, slashed across the left heel and shocked about the body during interrogation.
The allegations of Buxtonians Patrick Sumner and Victor Jones also received widespread publicity. Both men were allegedly tortured over a three-day period after they were taken by soldiers from Buxton during a Joint Services raid aback of the village. Jones suffered the brunt of the beating and spoke of a substance being thrown on his skin which caused severe burning. Jones had also alleged that he was burnt on his testicles.
The men were never charged and were subsequently released. Those allegations were also denied by the lawmen.
The army had conducted a probe into all these allegations and Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr Roger Luncheon had said publicly that the report had been submitted to the board. But nothing has since been said regarding what the findings of the investigations were.
