by JP Schwmon #SituationUpdates<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Wyllie, one defense attorney here, is of the view that the socio-political temperature across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is quickly approaching the \u201cHaitian situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyllie is currently appearing in defense of Richard \u2018Ras Oba\u2019 Jacobs and Dave Crosby \u2013 two protestors who were arrested during Rise Hairouna\u2019s latest demonstrations in Kingstown. While speaking at the first virtual media conference, hosted by the 1 year old NGO, the attorney noted that his work history includes a stint, which ran \u201cfor many years,\u201d with the Organization of American States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He recalled playing a civil liberties activist role as part of the International Civilian Mission, in Haiti. The Organization of American States and the United Nations established that Mission in 1993, at the behest of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyllie stressed, \u201cone of the things that gets to me is when I see human rights abuses. Now having lived in Haiti for 3 years and seen what went on there, St. Vincent \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 is getting close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened in Haiti a few months ago when the president was killed wasn\u2019t a surprise to me at all. Haiti might be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I have lived in 9 different countries since I left St. Vincent and been back here including England, United States and Canada and I can tell you \u2013 I\u2019ve never met a group of people who are more politically astute than Haitians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Haiti you don\u2019t do the right thing, they will get rid of you. Either you go voluntarily or they kill you. Some of the things I see going on in St. Vincent here, if they were occurring in Haiti there would have been serious, serious consequences for our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyllie attested to his sense of outrage given his opinion that \u201cwe are getting very close to a dictatorship.\u201d He also said: \u201cI think that Vincentians ought to pay closer attention and do what is required to safeguard themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The seasoned lawyer described his political allegiance as being \u201cno secret that my support is with the [Parliamentary] Opposition\u201d, the New Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyllie further stated that his personal undertaking, upon his return to the land of his birth, was \u201cto get involved and to assist wherever I can. But the whole political structure is such that you are targeted if you are not a member \u2013 you are not a supporter of the ruling party. That is no deterrence to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amongst the issues that irk the English trained jurist, is \u201cthe non-observance of the rule of law and our constitution here\u2026. Sometimes I have to really remember that I am not in the United States, I am in St. Vincent because the things which the police get away here with; in the United States police would be sued and damages for millions and millions of dollars\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe police get away with all kinds of nonsense in this place \u2013 beating up people, slapping them, forcing them to give statements\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He opined that the 2012 Electronic Interview Act is \u201ca total violation of the Judges Rule.\u201d This, he claimed, is due to the fact that the EIA was amended so that potential juries can be influenced against an accused even if the accused choose to remain silent when interrogated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyllie further referenced \u201ctwo cases where Voire Dires are being conducted police slapped, cuffed [even] fired gunshots over one of my client\u2019s head to intimidate him to give them a statement\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the situation we face here in St. Vincent. Like I said with my Haiti experience; I am very, very troubled with what I see here because if things continue the way they are we are probably going to end up in a Haitian situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHaiti is a country which you know has gone through a lot and Haiti is the first independent nation in the region and so we need \u2013 in St. Vincent at some point \u2013 to stand up to the nonsense that is going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asbert News Network caught up with Michael Wyllie via WhatsApp after the Rise Hairouna media conference. He took the opportunity to clarify the sentiments previously expressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told us: \u201cNo l wasn’t [espousing the assassination of local politicians]. I was making the point that if they were in Haiti and carrying on in the way that they are doing here in SVG, they would more than likely suffer the same fate as the President of Haiti, who was assassinated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by JP Schwmon #SituationUpdates Michael Wyllie, one defense attorney here, is of the view that the socio-political temperature across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is quickly approaching the \u201cHaitian situation.\u201d Wyllie is currently appearing in defense of Richard \u2018Ras Oba\u2019 Jacobs and Dave Crosby \u2013 two protestors who were arrested during Rise Hairouna\u2019s latest demonstrations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n