WPA executive member arrested for alleged cyber-crime offence

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 May 2024, 21:13 by Writer

Working People’s Alliance (WPA) executive member and Buxton Morning Time host, Kidackie Amsterdam was Tuesday morning arrested at his Buxton, East Coast Demerara residence for allegedly committing cyber-crimes, prompting his party to deem him a “political prisoner”.

“As is now the norm for opposition figures, the police have denied Mr. Amsterdam station bail and from all indications seem in no hurry to bring him before the court. WPA, therefore, deems Mr. Amsterdam a political prisoner whose civil rights are being trampled upon,” that party said in a statement.

The Guyana Police Force, up to late Tuesday afternoon, did not issue a statement on the politician’s arrest. However, Mr Amsterdam is seen, as the host of his Facebook programme, on video not intervening when a caller advocated deadly violence against four top People’s Progressive Party Civic administration cabinet members.

He was, according to the WPA, moved from the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department to the Ruimveldt Police Station where he remained in custody.

The WPA said Mr Amsterdam was only told of the offence for which he was being held after repeated queries by his lawyer, Nigel Hughes.

That political party did not name the complainant but described the person as a “close friend of a high government” who has already brought a civil case against Mr Amsterdam stemming from remarks made on the Guyana Morning Time social media broadcast. In that regard, the WPA stopped short of saying that the police force was being weaponised politically against an opponent of the People’s Progressive Party. “That the police are now pursuing criminal charges can only be seen as an attempt to influence the civil matter or to further persecute Amsterdam. WPA views this development as another brazen utilization of the police by the political bosses to harass and intimidate political opponents,” the party said.

Condemning “in the strongest terms” the arrest and detention of Mr Amsterdam by the police on the “flimsy accusation of committing cyber-crime against a citizen with high connections,” the WPA urged all Guyanese of goodwill to raise their voices against this clear manifestation of a police state with all the markings of an emerging fascist state.”

“Free speech and the right to due process are fast becoming extinct in Guyana,” the party said.