The Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), have called for an independent investigation into the death of 32-year-old Gavin Douglas, who died while in police custody at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station last Saturday.

A post-mortem report has revealed that Douglas died from blunt-trauma to the head with other marks of violence seen on his body.

Six Police officers have since been placed under close-arrest as the probe continues into the man’s death.

In a statement today, the APNU said the findings of the post-mortem examination raise serious questions that demand urgent and credible answers. The party said there should be a fair, independent and impartial investigation into the incident.

It said all CCTV footage, station records, medical reports and other relevant evidence must be secured immediately and the investigation must be free from police interference.

“This occurrence is not new. Under the PPPC Government, incidents involving alleged police brutality, excessive force and deaths in circumstances involving law enforcement have become a disturbing feature of our national landscape. The growing perception that state-sponsored violence and abuse of authority are becoming the order of the day must concern every Guyanese,” the APNU noted.

The party noted that the State has a fundamental responsibility to protect every individual placed in its care and therefore the party said the pattern of persons dying while in police custody is worrying.

“The Government cannot continue to offer assurances of investigations while families are left grieving and those responsible for abuses of authority escape accountability. The Minister of Home Affairs and the Government must accept responsibility for ensuring that our law enforcement institutions operate within the law and respect the fundamental rights and dignity of every citizen,” APNU noted.

For its part, the Forward Guyana Movement, said it was shocked and dismayed at the findings of the Post Mortem Report and said the police must play no part in the investigations.

“We do not trust the police to investigate the police, and no Guyanese should be asked to. The investigation sits with the Office of Professional Responsibility, a unit of the Guyana Police Force. The four ranks arrested are being held by the Tactical Services Unit, another unit of the same Force. Eyewitness accounts now suggest that the station’s recordings may have been tampered with before senior officers arrived. A Force that has already given the nation a sanitised account of how Gavin Douglas died cannot be trusted with the evidence, and it cannot be trusted to tell us the truth about what happened to him,” the FGM said.

Family members of man who died in the Police lock-ups are demanding justice. They maintain that he was brutally murdered by the Police.

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