Dear Editor,
Monday April 22 marks eighteen years since the assassination of Minister Satyadeow ‘Sash’ Sawh, two of his siblings and his security guard. It has become our family’s unpleasant tradition to send a letter to the press on this sombre occasion each year. We continue to lament the lack of progress in regards to a thorough inquiry, and hope that an eighteenth anniversary finally motivates action. It is no small matter, however, that just a few weeks ago, at a forum as respected as the United Nations Human Rights Commission, legitimate and piercing questions were asked about the lack of investigation into Sash Sawh’s murder when reflecting on Guyana’s human rights track record. In twisted irony, the call of the UNHRC echoed the lamentations in our letters over the years.
The Committee noted that it was “concerned that the alleged extrajudicial killings that occurred between 2002 and 2006 have not been adequately investigated, and prosecuted, and the perpetrators were not duly sanctioned”, despite a commitment to establish a Presidential Commission of Inquiry in 2018 (publicly supported by the then-opposition). The UNHRC went on to call on Guyana to, “as a priority, establish a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged extra-judicial killings during the period between 2002 and 2006.” (From the CCPR/C/GUY/CO/3: Concluding observations on the third periodic report of Guyana – Advance unedited version, released March 28, 2024). We remember all of our loved ones on this sombre day, and every day. Here’s hoping that we don’t have to keep on writing letters.
Sincerely,
Roger Sawh
on behalf of the family of the late Satyadeow Sawh
