The Working People’s Alliance has accused the government of remaining silent on the widespread and routine use of torture by members of the security forces while dismissing such cases as “roughing up”.
“Had the Jagdeo government acted on the credible allegations of torture that were earlier levelled against the security forces, instead of excusing those heinous acts as mere roughing up, it would have sent a signal to the security forces that the inhumane and cruel treatment of persons in their custody would be punishable under the law,” the party said.
In a statement issued on Friday, the WPA said it noted the “belated release” of the Torture Report by government which identified the perpetrators of the crime against the teen.
The party said it disagreed with the conclusion of Assistant Commissioner Mackhanlall who after investigating the matter reported, “If the ranks involved were properly supervised and they had understood their role as Law Enforcement Officers and acted professionally, this incident would have been prevented, hence the force would not have faced the embarrassment it faces due to this incident”.
According to the party, Mackhanlall is wrong to treat this matter as an isolated aberration as the tragedy is that resort to brutality and degrading treatment in the extraction of statements from suspects is the norm.
The statement went on to say that the fact is that the use of torture as an instrument of crime fighting in Guyana has the “tacit and in some instances explicit support of the government”. It added that other forms of torture include driving prisoners around in a prison vehicle for more than four hours and having them in poorly ventilated vehicles in hot sunshine for hours. The latter, the party said should not be tolerated.
“Until such time as the Jagdeo administration demonstrates its abhorrence of the use of torture by enacting the necessary laws to criminalize its practice and punish the torturers, citizens would be justified in treating the government’s assurances of no further repetition as just what they are, pure hot air,” the statement said.
