Senior Counsel Forde knocks DPP’s request for Magistrate to be removed from hearing Cybercrime case

The private cybercrime charge was filed by Police Sergeant Dion Bascom after he was slapped with cybercrime charges over statements he made at a press conference.

Senior Counsel Forde knocks DPP’s request for Magistrate to be removed from hearing Cybercrime case

Senior Counsel and Opposition Member of Parliament, Roysdale Forde has publicly denounced a recent move by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali- Hack seeking the removal of a Magistrate from continuing to hear a cyber-crime matter after the Magistrate upbraided and briefly locked up the Police Legal Advisor

In a statement, the Senior Counsel said the request by the DPP is unacceptable.

“Indeed it has struck a severe blow at the heart of justice, in this country. All law- abiding Guyanese must be concerned at this new ugly development that puts at risk a basic constitutional right to a fair trial in a Court of Law in the beloved country of ours.

But this is not the first time the Director of Public Prosecutions has attempted to do things that are unacceptable,” Mr. Forde said in a press statement.

Forde recalled that in a related matter, the DPP, without providing any reason, or reasonable grounds, gave a directive to the Chief Magistrate to discontinue a private criminal charge against Crime Chief Wendell Blauhum.

The private cybercrime charge was filed by Police Sergeant Dion Bascom after he was slapped with cybercrime charges over statements he made at a press conference.

The DPP now wants the Magistrate hearing the cybercrime case against the Police Sergeant to be removed.

“How is it possible for the Director of Public Prosecution to have contemplated and expressed a request, in writing, to the Chancellor of the Judiciary to have the mater, which involves Dion Bascom reassigned? This action, by the Director of Public Prosecutions, give rise to a serious and fundamental question; why? A possible answer could be that the DPP is seeking to influence the trial in a particular way. Whatever the answer, the Director of Public Prosecution’s action has left justice and fairness in a desolate place,” Senior Counsel Forde reasoned.

Forde said the DPP’s intervention in this matter should not be allowed to stand and voices of truth and conscience in the society, have a duty to speak out against it.

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