Lawyers divided on serving summonses to anti-govt activist in New York

Last Updated on Sunday, 24 December 2023, 14:07 by Denis Chabrol

Shadow Attorney General, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde and government parliamentarian Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin are at odds over the legality of serving summonses to anti- People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) activist, Rickford Burke at his New York residence.

Mr Forde contended that the jurisdiction of Guyana’s courts and the authority of the Guyana Police Force are limited to this country’s geographical space “unless specifically and expressly conferred by law.” He said the serving of the summonses to Mr Burke at his Maple Street, Brooklyn, New York home on December 16, 2023 by a New York Process Server and Assistant Superintendent of Police, Rodwell Sarabo  is “utterly constitutional” not legally binding and invalid.

“There is absolutely no legal authority conferred on the Magistrate’s Court to order service of a Defendant’s Summons outside of Guyana and the Guyana Police Force to serve a Defendant’s Summons outside of Guyana,” he said.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall on Saturday,  who remained silent on the big question of whether Guyana had obtained permission from the United States for that Guyanese police officer to perform police functions in New York, on Saturday sought to assure that the service of the summonses to Mr Burke was above board. “I wish to make it abundantly clear that I harbour no doubt about the propriety and legality of the service of those documents,” he said. The US Espionage Act requires foreign representatives, other than those in the diplomatic service, to seek permission from the US Attorney General before performing functions on America soil. Violators could be fined and jailed.

Mr Datadin, a practising criminal and civil lawyer, said Mr Burke was served the summonses to make him aware of the hearing so that he could choose the way forward. “The service of a summons to attend Court on Rickford Burke is to make him aware of the hearing. At the very least it would make him aware of the charge(s) he is facing in the Magistrate Court and affords him, if he wishes, to be heard in defence of the charge(s),” Mr Datadin said.

But Mr Datadin said freedom of speech is not absolute and he challenged those who make claims to prove their truthfulness in court. “I’ss baffling that those who wish to shout accusations about all on sundry on social media and elsewhere do not want to defend what they have said. Freedom is not free. Free speech is protected once it does not breach the laws and constitution of Guyana. Truth is a complete defence to any charge of bullying and false utterances.

Police said subsequently, on the 18th day of August, 2023, two charges were filed at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court aagainst Mr Burke for that offence. However, police said the accused, who resides in the US, was absent from Court.

He is also accused of  excitement of hostility or ill-will on the grounds of Race, under the Racial Hostility Act; sedition under the Cyber Crime Act; use of a computer system to coerce and intimidate a person, under the Cyber Crime Act; seditious libel contrary to common law; seditious libel under the peace under the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act, and inciting public terror under the Criminal Law Offences Act.

For his part, Mr Burke has cited the court action and service of summonses as latest examples of transnational repression by the PPPC-led administration.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) says governments use transnational repression tactics to silence the voices of their citizens or non-citizens connected to the country, get information from them, or coerce them to return home. Among those targeted are political and human rights activists, dissidents, journalists, political opponents, religious or ethnic minority groups.

Mr Burke’s Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy earlier this year organised a conference on Guyana in Washington to discuss the political situation in Guyana. The Guyana government had prior to that conference mounted a high-level mission headed by President Irfaan Ali that held talks with several key American members of Congress and other decision-makers, telling them that the Guyana government does not discriminate against anyone.