GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana Police Pressure (GPF) says it’s ready to deliver extortion costs towards New York-based Guyanese political activist Rickford Burke and start extradition proceedings so he can face the court docket right here.
However Burke, president of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), has denied the most recent allegation, describing it as a “fabrication.” In a short assertion on Saturday, the GPF mentioned it has “cogent, compelling, and irrefutable proof” that Burke extorted cash from an area businessman.
“The matter is beneath overview, and the police are awaiting additional authorized recommendation in regards to the establishment of recent costs,” it mentioned.
The announcement on Saturday got here simply days after Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire dominated that the State’s use of felony defamation legal guidelines to prosecute CGID president Burke was unconstitutional, violated freedom of expression beneath Article 146 of the Guyana Structure, and constituted authorities overreach.
A wished bulletin was issued for Burke in 2021, and felony costs, together with conspiracy to commit libel, have been filed in 2023. Burke, who has lived within the US for almost three a long time, by no means appeared in court docket. The choose discovered that the police’s try and serve court docket summonses outdoors the jurisdiction, particularly in New York, was illegal and invalid.
In its assertion on Saturday, the GPF mentioned that since Burke stays outdoors Guyana’s jurisdiction, “extradition proceedings will likely be pursued beneath the Fugitive Offenders Act consistent with the ruling of the Chief Justice.”
The CGID, in response to the police assertion, accused Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken of appearing on the behest of Guyana’s present administration. It insisted that the GPF’s assertion about extortion by Burke was “grossly false.”
“That is as absurd and obscene as it’s laughable. Mr Burke resolutely denies this fabrication. He rejects it as a blatant, determined lie,” mentioned CGID’s Director of Communications Richard Millington.
“CGID challenges the Police Commissioner to right away launch his so-called ‘cogent and irrefutable proof’ to the general public,” he added.
