Expression
Intimidation of journalists
On 30th January 2023, several media workers wrote a letter to Police Commissioner Colin John expressing concern at what they regard as the “escalating issue of threats by members of the public against and aggression” towards journalists covering the magistrates’ courts in Kingstown, the nation’s capital.
The journalists said the aggression has been “an ongoing situation about which journalists have complained repeatedly over the years to police officers assigned to the court”.
In particular, the letter concerned an incident outside the Serious Offences Court (SOC) on 25th January “that went above and beyond anything that journalists reporting on the court have experienced recently”.
A few journalists were in the courtyard of the SOC waiting to photograph Jermaine Andrews who was remanded to prison pending sentencing after pleading guilty to firearm and ammunition charges. However, people in the courtyard prevented them from photographing him, while shouting and insulting the journalists.
On 8th February 2023, the Police Commissioner met with the media to discuss the letter of complaint regarding aggression towards reporters outside the law court. The police chief said that they take every crime report seriously and that the law enforcement agency believes in a free press. He promised that Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force would do what it could to ensure that a free press continues to exist in the country and informed the journalists concerned that he had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Journalist assaulted.
On 21st April 2023, an individual appeared before a magistrate in Kingstown, charged with assaulting a journalist. The accused, Ray Roberts, is alleged to have struck court reporter St. Clair Charles with Charles’ walking stick, resulting in actual bodily harm. Roberts pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on bail.
Peaceful Assembly
Activist detained, charged, denied bail
Four opposition activists were denied police bail and were kept in police lock-up overnight until 23rd February, when they appeared before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on charges that they had held an illegal public meeting outside Parliament. The Police alleged that they were holding an illegal public meeting against the government and failed to comply with the instructions of a police officer when he instructed them to disperse from “an unlawfully held public meeting which was held within 200 yards of the Court House building when the House of Assembly was sitting”, contrary to Section 10(3)(a) of the Public Order Act.
While the police chief refused to grant the accused bail at the police station, as is usually the case with misdemeanour, the magistrate granted each accused person bail in his/her own recognisance, in the sum of EC$2,000. Their trial was set for 23rd May 2023.