Lawyer Jomo Thomas speaking on Boom FM about the arrest of Kenson King On Friday and the subsequent charges under the Sedition Act, says citizens have to keep a keen eye on what is happening in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“What is happening is that SVG is fast becoming what Forbes Burnham Guyana was. If you are opposed to the government, the police will come after you. The state is going to come after you”.
“People need to know that if you are going to come after the system, you have to be prepared to fight because the system would come at you”.
In November 1966, Burnham pushed through a new set of national security laws called the Preventive Detention Act. The act permitted near-unlimited search-and-seizure powers and detention without trial for up to ninety days.
In June of 1980, Walter Rodney, a Marxist historian and one of the most vociferous opponents of Burnham’s authoritarian rule, was killed in a mysterious explosion.
According to a New York Times article of October 1979, Burnham’s Guyana saw several protest rallies broken up by club‐wielding policemen and unidentified thugs, and where several opposition leaders went underground.
Thomas continued; The assault on Kenson King is reprehensible.
“It is reprehensible, it is illegal, and it is wrong. This is the third time King has been arrested in less than a year, and all of the cases would fail. And let me say the only reason these arrests is because he is an opponent of the governing party, and the police are playing that hand”.
Thomas also spoke to Adriana King’s comments on Facebook in which she stated that her relative Kenson King is being tortured and to which many believe she should be charged for making the comments.
“Our Constitution section 5 under fundamental rights and freedoms says no person should be subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. It does not necessarily mean pulling out someone’s toenail; it means unjust oppression”.
“Have any of you ever gone to the holding cell in Kingstown Police Station?. Have you gone there to smell the stench of that room? ‘Bing’ have you ever gone there?. it is oppressive”.
Thomas said King is constantly picked on a Friday and accused the police of doing the biddings of the powers that be.
On Friday, 25 March, King was slapped with three charges that in December 2021, during a Facebook live; he uttered seditious words. He was arraigned on Monday, 28 March, and released on bail.
