Francis: ‘Certain St. Lucians’ Made U.S. Lose Faith In Coroner’s Court!

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n order to get the United States-imposed Leahy Law monkey off Saint Lucia’s back, security minister Hermangild Francis recently stated, officers involved in the police killings at the time of Operation Restore Confidence must be credibly prosecuted. A short time earlier, the minister had met with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Sergio De La Pena. According to Francis, he had brought up “the constraints of the Leahy Law on Saint Lucia”. By his own telling, the security minister was not surprised that the American authorities refused to change their attitude, first made clear in the time of Kenny Anthony in 2012.

This was how the prime minister told it in a televised address on August 20, 2013: “Officials of the United States say they have taken action against our police officers because they are bound by a law enacted by the United States Congress. Essentially this law says the United States shall not furnish any assistance to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such a unit has committed a gross violation of human rights. The law further states that the prohibition shall not apply if the government of such country is taking effective steps to bring responsible members of the security unit to justice . . . When these provisions are scrutinized against the actions of the United States it becomes clear the United States believes it has credible evidence that officers of the Saint Lucia police force committed gross violations of human rights.”

PM Anthony also related that “where unexplained killings occur, our law provides for coroners’ inquests to be conducted by a magistrate to determine, if possible, the cause of the death of the subject of an inquest”. In the case of the 2010-11 police shootings here cited, verdicts of “death by lawful act” were returned, said Anthony. Nevertheless, “Since the United States has decided to impose sanctions on members of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, then it is reasonably clear that it does not have confidence in the outcome of the inquests to bring those responsible for the killings to justice.”

On Monday security minister Francis explained the possible three outcomes, should the findings of the IMPACS investigation initiated by the Kenny Anthony government in 2013 come before the courts. “The Director of Public Prosecutions can say he does not have sufficient evidence to go forward and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. Secondly, those charged can be convicted or the charges against them dismissed. They can be acquitted.”

Then again, according to Kenny Anthony in 2013, although a coroner’s court had declared the particular deaths in 2010-11 lawful, the United States had made it “reasonably clear it does not have confidence in the outcome of the inquests . . .” So, why would the U.S. accept another verdict of not guilty when, still according to Kenny Anthony, they believe they have credible evidence to the contrary?

Minister Francis doesn’t buy Anthony’s claim that U.S. authorities had no confidence in the outcome of the inquests. On Monday he blamed “certain Saint Lucians” for the imposition of sanctions in accordance with the Leahy law.

“The Americans accepted the coroner’s report,” Francis said. “There was no noise about it, initially. It’s when they started getting contrary information from reputable Saint Lucians that the U.S. authorities started questioning the validity of the inquests. They were made to believe the government of the day had manipulated the coroner’s inquest.” Francis is convinced the U.S. will accept whatever verdict is handed down following prosecution of the IMPACS report.

He says the present administration has been doing its best to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. If only from his vantage, there is “light at the end of the tunnel”. He expressed much faith in the efforts of DPP Daasrean Greene.

“Unlike certain people who would want to interfere with the work of the DPP, this government accepts that the DPP must be left to perform his duties without any outside influence,” said Francis.

In 2015, following certain public statements by members of the Kenny Anthony cabinet in relation to the IMPACS investigation, the day’s DPP, Victoria Emmanuel-Charles, revealed that the report handed her by the prime minister, much of it by then public information, comprised “serious allegations of wrongdoing and human rights violations” but without supporting evidence, witness statements, etc.

Soon afterward, in an interview broadcast by Radio St. Lucia, then justice minister Victor LaCorbiniere acknowledged the DPP’s assertion. “It would be highly improper and prejudicial,” he told interviewer Shelton Daniel, “to have any such matters contained in a report of this kind.”  On the other hand, the Police Complaints Act and the Evidence Act of Saint Lucia dictate that “investigators must transmit all the evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions”.