Rough necks must be named

The report into allegations of torture by ranks of the Joint Services will be released but without the names of the ranks mentioned in the document.

This is according to Head to State, President Bharrat Jagdeo, who said, during a press briefing yesterday, that the names would be removed from the report in order to protect the ranks from any from of discrimination.

He said that once the names of the ranks are published, it is more than likely their faces will also be published in relation to the accusations.

He noted that it was probably that fear that prompted Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, to declare on Friday that it was very unlikely that the report would be released.

The President also reiterated what so many before him on the Government side had said — that the men were not tortured, but were questioned aggressively.

He noted that the matters must be addressed in their contexts, pointing to the circumstances surrounding the men being picked up and questioned.

According to Jagdeo, the first was in the case of Buxton, when several soldiers and policemen were shot and killed by bandits. Many people lost their lives, and members of the Joint Services were being shot at routinely.

These shootings were post Lusignan and Bartica, where the Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins Gang was based.

“If they identify people who are linked to criminal gangs, then they will act in a certain manner, given the context…To act alternatively may cost them their lives.”

The second incident, according to Jagdeo, stemmed from the discovery of a huge cache of weapons that were lost by the army. Then another weapon went missing.