Former president Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday appeared at the Whim Magistrate’s Court on a private criminal charge that he made racially divisive statements at Babu John, Corentyne.
Jagdeo’s attendance at the court attracted supporters outside of the court building, where some issued threats to human rights activist Sherlina Nageer that echoed ones made by former Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran at the previous court date last month.
After being delayed at the Berbice Bridge, Jagdeo, 51, eventually turned up after 11 am and he was read the charge by Magistrate Charlyn Artiga, who earlier in the day overruled submissions by his attorneys that the charge was bad in law.
The charge was filed by attorney Christopher Ram, whose attorney yesterday argued that the law was clear and unambiguous.
It is alleged that on March 8, Jagdeo uttered statements which could have resulted in racial or ethnic hatred among the people, in violation of Section 139 D of The Representation of the People Act.
Jagdeo, who stood in the docks, was not required to plead to the charge. Although Magistrate Artiga eventually sent him off on his own recognisance, she instructed that he should not leave the country without the court’s permission. Should there be an emergency, she directed that he inform the opposing counsel and the court at least a day before the prospective court date. He is due to return to court on June 23 for the beginning of the preliminary inquiry into the charge.
The case was first called at 9 am, when Ram’s attorney was allowed to present legal submissions in reply to Jagdeo’s battery of lawyers, who had previously argued that the charge should be dismissed.
Jagdeo is being represented by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos and attorneys Anil Nandlall, Mursaline Bacchus, Ian and Adrian Anamayah and Perry Gossai.
Attorney Trenton Lake, who appeared for Ram, argued that “the words and sentences in the Act are clear and unambiguous and the intention of the framers of the legislation was [to] create an offence to prohibit racial or ethnic division among the people of Guyana.” He further said, “Every person to whom the act applies has a legal duty to comply with it.”
Magistrate Artiga subsequently overruled the submissions put forward by Jagdeo’s lawyers.
Arrest warrant
Because Jagdeo was not present at the start of the hearing, Magistrate Artiga moved to issue an arrest warrant. At this point, his attorneys argued
against the warrant, while stating that it could not be issued because Jagdeo was not served a summons.
Ram, through his attorney, indicated to the court that no further attempts were made to serve the summons since they were still to make their reply to the submissions by Jagdeo’s attorneys for the dismissal of the charge.
As the magistrate was in the process of the issuing the arrest warrant, one of the defence attorneys indicated to her that Jagdeo was on his way. The matter was stood down for a half an hour and was recalled. When the matter was recalled, the court was informed that Jagdeo was stuck at the Berbice River Bridge, which was closed to vehicular traffic. The magistrate then stood the matter down once more and indicated it would reconvene at 11 am.
When the court was reconvened, Jagdeo was still a no-show. However, his lawyers indicated that he was on the way. Lake then indicated to the court that it seemed as if it were bending over backwards to make accommodations for Jagdeo. During arguments over the exemption being granted, Nandlall turned to Lake and asked, “Yuh ever serve the summons?” Senior counsel De Santos then told Nandlall to stay calm.
The magistrate then stated that the court’s working day ends at 4.30 pm and if by that time Jagdeo did not appear the arrest warrant would be issued. However, moments after a third break, Jagdeo arrived.
He was greeted by chants from supporters, some of whom threw flowers at him.
Threats
Jagdeo’s supporters had converged outside the court and were holding a peaceful protest. However, when they saw Nageer, they hurled abusive comments at her, which she ignored. One very vocal supporter called her “chanie crow” referring to a bird that feeds on dead animals.
When Jagdeo was about to leave in his vehicle, supporters started to shout that they would beat Nageer and they would “slap and strip her just for fun… where she deh?” At no time were they cautioned about the threats.
Some of them had been present when similar threats were made by former health minister Bheri Ramsaran last month after the previous hearing. A recording of his comments to Nageer was shared widely on social media and brought local and international pressure to bear on the former Donald Ramotar administration to sanction him. Ramotar later sacked Ramsaran.
When Jagdeo’s supporters saw Ram after the first recess yesterday, they shouted, “We should spit on him,” “Ayo, look that crass” and “Jagdeo is not a murderer, why he ga come to come to court?”
Some of Jagdeo’s supporters carried placards that misspelt Ram’s first name. When he told one of them that it was not the way his name is spelt, the supporter said, “We spelt it like that.” Another placard read, “People of Berbice is with president Jagdeo.”
As Jagdeo made his way out of court, a number of women supporters flocked him as he greeted those who stood in solidarity with him. The supporters escorted him out to the public road as if he were a rock star. However, their actions resulted in a traffic build up from the court entrance to the Corentyne Public Road.
Jagdeo was widely condemned for his comments at Babu John, where he used a pejorative term to describe Indo-Guyanese and stated that this was how another section of the populace referred to them. He gained full support from the former ruling party for these statements. The statements were later described as racially divisive by the Media Monitoring Unit of the Guyana Elections Commission.
