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Still no investigation into ant nest torture

Mar 11, 2009 News

More than a week has passed since Mitchell Thomas gave a formal statement detailing how he was placed in an ant nest by ranks of the Joint Services Operating Group, and despite assurances by the authorities that the matter is being thoroughly investigated, there has been no further development in the matter.
Thomas, who hails from Leguan, is still awaiting his chance to identify the perpetrators.
The labourer was brought to the city last week through the facilitation of this newspaper and has since returned home, pending a call from investigators to ID the ranks who caused him to sustain severe bruises to his back and other parts of his body.
He had described one of the perpetrators as having plaited hair, a description the police commissioner found difficult to believe.
President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference on Monday told reporters that he was aware of the allegations and is expecting a report on the matter, having seen the evidence from a photograph published by this newspaper.
He however stated that there is no systematic programme of torture within the local security forces and advised against the wanton use of the word torture to describe the actions of the law enforcement agencies.
“Obviously if something is wrong you must report on it,” the President told the media.
He said that by using the word torture, the international community gets the wrong impression.
The main opposition People’s National Congress Reform had said that it expects no delay in the investigation into recent allegations of torture by two Wakenaam residents.
The party had also demanded that an urgent and impartial investigation be launched into these allegations.
“The Party does not expect that the tactic of delay and prevarication which characterised the approach to previous allegations of torture by the Joint Services would be adopted, in this case,” the PNCR said in a statement.
Apart from Thomas, another Wakenaam resident, 17-year-old Ryan Gordon had alleged that he was beaten by members of the security forces during a raid for narcotics, two Sundays ago.
Gordon had told this newspaper that ranks of the Joint Services held him by his pants and dragged him along the road.
He was also slapped in the face several times and was forced to lie on his belly and crawl along the road.
Further, members of the Joint Services allegedly placed a piece of wood on his shoulder and stood on him for several minutes before putting the barrel of a gun in his ear.
The PNCR said that it wishes to remind the Administration that, on previous occasions, when torture was alleged by Patrick Sumner and Victor Jones and members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), an internal investigation was only launched into the allegations made against the ranks of the GDF.
“The PNCR would not cease its call for an independent and impartial investigation into all of these allegations of torture, since it has become evident that the culture of torture has become institutionalised within the operations of the Joint Services,” the party added.
According to a source, the fact that Mitchell Thomas was sent away without being allowed to participate in an identification parade is a sign of delaying tactic on the part of the investigators, since it would require him to travel all the way from his home in Leguan for such a purpose.
The last time such allegations were made, it took investigators several months to conduct their investigations and present a report to the Defence Board which in the main has remained secret, despite promises to make the findings public.

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