- Guyanese court issues summons for US-based political activist
Rickford Burke, a Guyanese political activist based in New York, has been served with a court summons requiring him to appear before an East Coast Demerara magistrate next year.
Burke, the President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) and a critic of the current government, was served with a “defendant summons” on December 16 at his home in Brooklyn, New York by ASP Rodwell Sarabo of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and US process server Mark Wesserman.
GPF said in a news release yesterday that Burke must appear in the Vigilance Magistrate’s court on March 28th, 2024.
Burke has been accused with a number of offences, including incitement of hate or ill-will based on race, sedition, inciting public terror, and seditious libel.
Burke was placed on two wanted lists: December 3, 2021 and September 29, 2022.
On August 28th, 2023, police filed charges against him.
Meanwhile, Burke has filed a police report in New York.
He said on a Facebook livestream last night that “two men armed with firearms” stormed into his home and attempted to “push a piece of paper” into his face as he was leaving for church.
Burke claimed to have seen Sarabo and Wesserman going through his mail.
He stated that he was not served with the document, but discovered it on the stairs going to his residence.
Burke charged the government and GPF with seeking to misuse the legal system by bringing malicious cases against him.
