Army officers sanctioned
The army has taken “appropriate action” against members accused of torturing two soldiers during interrogations, Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Chief-of-Staff Commodore Gary Best said yesterday.
While not divulging what actions were taken against the accused officers, Best told Stabroek News that the army has taken actions against the men, after a Board of Inquiry concluded that while there was no evidence of torture, there were some instances of “roughing up.” Stabroek News has been told that the accused ranks may have lost their ranks as a result of the findings.
Asked if his administration sanctions “roughing up,” Best said no, explaining that this was the reason action was taken against the officers. He said they have since submitted their report to the Defence Board and there is nothing further for them to do in relation to the inquiry.
Meanwhile, although torture allegations were also made against the army officers by Buxtonians Patrick Summer and Victor Jones, Commodore Best said the inquiry only looked at the claims made by soldiers Alvin Wilson and Michael Dunn. Another soldier, who has since left the army, Sharth Robertson, had also said he was tortured but his allegations were not investigated in the inquiry. The three had alleged that they were tortured during the interrogations of them in relation to a missing army AK-47.
Best said that he found it surprising that the media has been insinuating that the inquiry investigated allegations made by all the men when it was just in relation to Wilson and Dunn.
“…It is [the report] juxtaposed with photographs and the videos of Mr [Patrick] Summer and other persons which we did not investigate. And I think it is unfair to the GDF… I think the media have every right to ask that an investigation be done. But when an investigation is done in relation to two persons I don’t think the media should juxtapose photographs and videos of other allegations. It makes the military looks bad and it makes media also look bad,” he said.
The soldiers alleged that they were pepper-sprayed and whipped with metal pipes by officers attached to the Military Criminal Investiga-tion Department (MCID). Following much public outcry, the Board of Inquiry was established.
Although the report has not been made public, government spokesmen revealed that it found cases of “roughing up” and that some of the allegations were false.
Afterward, Dunn told Stabroek News that he felt “betrayed by the government and the Guyana Defence Force” for labelling the “horrifying experiences” he and his colleagues endured as mere ‘roughing up.’ “I don’t know what they call roughing up, but that wasn’t no rough up. I am a military person and I know what is torture. That was torture and I have the evidence on my body to show they tortured me,” Dunn had told this newspaper.
Dunn had said he was beaten, doused with cold water and in one case slashed across the heel with an iron pipe during interrogation. He also said there are marks on his body caused by the electrical shocks that were inflicted on him by the two soldiers. He said the men threw acid on his body and sprayed pepper-spray on his genitals. While the army colonel and two warrant officers, who headed the Board of Inquiry said in their report that there was no evidence of torture, Dunn questioned where they looked for the evidence as he has a “body of evidence” and photographs of his injuries. He said he had given a written statement to the Board and detailed what had happened to him. “This is really, really bad that they are saying that there was no torture,” Dunn said.
He felt the investigators stifled their conscience given the facts before them. “They could see this man [himself] ent just make up anything and that he is talking the truth. They just trying to protect people.”
Dunn had said it was two members of MCID who perpetrated the torture against him and according to him they were still at Camp Ayanganna, where he is still attached.
And he had said following his ordeal he still has trouble with his left ear as it oozes and doctors have told him there is nothing that could done about that injury.