APNU+AFC Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan was yesterday arrested by the police for allegedly calling the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Information Technology (IT) Manager a ‘jagabat’ and ‘trench crappo’.
He was released on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Director of the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Corporate Communica-tions Unit, Mark Ramotar yesterday confirmed that Duncan was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at around 11.30 am for questioning in relation to a cybercrime offence.
The arrest, Ramotar said was made based on a report by GECOM IT Manager, Aneal Giddings on Wednesday.
The police said that Giddings reported that about 8 pm on Tuesday, Duncan, who is the host of the ‘In the Ring’ program-me on social media site, Facebook made derogatory statements in which he was called by name and referred to as ‘jagabat’, ‘trench crappo’ and other disrespectful names, which caused him significant emotional stress and humiliation.
As a result, an investigation was launched during which a statement was taken from Giddings and the video was identified and downloaded from Duncan’s Facebook page.
In separate statements issued yesterday, both the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) condemned the arrest of Duncan.
The PNCR said Duncan’s arrest violated his rights and freedom of expression.
The party said they stand “firmly” with Duncan. “…We will do everything to ensure that his rights, especially his freedom of expression (are) no longer violated,” the statement said.
They also demanded an investigation into what they said is clearly a “planned, coordinated and orchestrated” political attack.
Meanwhile, the AFC called for Duncan to be released immediately and for all the charge/s against him to be dropped.
Further, they called on the international diplomatic community to condemn “this heinous act of oppression” against freedom of speech which they said that must be held sacred in democracy.
“The Alliance For Change vehemently condemns the unjust arrest of Hon. Duncan and calls on other civic bodies to do the same,” the AFC said.
