Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed held a month on remand — charge questioned
Azruddin Mohamed, Guyana's Leader of the Opposition, has been held on remand for over a month. Questions are mounting over the legal basis of the charge against him.
Questions mount over remand of Guyana's Opposition Leader
Azruddin Mohamed, the Leader of the Opposition and holder of a constitutionally established post, has spent more than one month on remand awaiting trial, Kaieteur News reports. The precise nature of the criminal charge against him remains unclear to many observers, prompting pointed questions about the legal basis for both the charge itself and the courts' repeated refusal to grant bail.
Mohamed won the second-largest share of votes in the last general elections, behind the ruling party. His detention has drawn scrutiny from critics who argue the circumstances surrounding his arrest do not add up.
A disputed encounter in front of a police officer's home
According to what has emerged in the public record, Mohamed had been filming in the vicinity of the residence of Superintendent of Police Prem Narine, reportedly to document what he alleged was misuse of police resources. Narine spotted Mohamed's vehicle and, anticipating it would circle the block a second time, positioned himself and waited.
When Mohamed's car returned, Narine opened fire, sending multiple bullets into the passing vehicle. The occupants escaped unharmed, though bullet holes in the car were visible. Mohamed subsequently described the incident as an assassination attempt.
Narine, in an initial statement, said he believed he heard the sound of a gunshot and fired in response, suggesting he felt he was under threat at that moment. However, circumstantial evidence indicates he had prior knowledge of who was in the vehicle and had readied himself for its return.
A gun found — but only on a second search
Police intercepted Mohamed's vehicle shortly after the incident. Mohamed and two other passengers were arrested at the scene. A search of the car at that point produced no firearm. Narine then took possession of the vehicle and drove it to the police station, where a second search was conducted — and a gun was reported found.
Mohamed has maintained he was not in possession of any firearm and has alleged the weapon was planted by police.
The courts have yet to receive, as far as is publicly known, the results of any independent investigation into what actually took place outside Narine's residence. It has not been established in the public record whether Mohamed fired a weapon, who owned the gun allegedly recovered, or whether that gun was ever discharged. Narine's own statement used the word "thought" in describing what he heard — stopping short of a definitive claim.
Bail denied; legal basis questioned
Critics are asking on what evidentiary foundation a charge was laid, and why a sitting constitutional officer — one accountable to hundreds of thousands of voters — has been held without bail for more than a month. Some observers have characterised the detention as political persecution of the opposition.
The question being raised is whether the courts have been presented with any substantive investigative findings at all, or whether the remand has proceeded in their absence.
Checks and balances in a small, unitary state
One perspective circulating in public commentary invokes a dictum associated with the late Guyanese historian Bobby Moore. Moore argued, in essence, that in small societies such as Guyana, the ruling authority holds effective control over all major institutions — the police, the judiciary, and the legislature. References in the Constitution to three co-equal branches of government and to the independence of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Force, Moore suggested, can amount to little more than words on paper if the political will to enforce those principles is absent.
The concern being voiced now echoes that argument: in a small, unitary state with no federal tier of government to intervene, what institutional check exists if an executive branch were to use state machinery against political opponents? Unlike a federal system — where central authority can step in to correct abuses at the state level — Guyana has no such structural safety net.
Whether the DPP's office will offer a public accounting of the charge and the grounds for continued remand remains to be seen.
Source: Kaieteur News