Government committed to provisions for capital punishment -- Dr Luncheon
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said the Government remains committed to the constitutional provisions as it relates to capital punishment. "As far as the administration is concerned the Constitution rules supreme...the abandonment of the constitutional position for most of the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) countries is unthinkable with regards to capital punishment," Luncheon declared at a press conference hosted at the Guyana Television Broadcasting Company, GTV-11. He explained that for death row prisoners to be hanged there must be a recommendation to the President from the Prerogative of Mercy Committee. This Committee meets and considers the execution of death row prisoners after all legal procedures are exhausted by these persons. "Until that exercise takes place, then of course the actual commitment to capital punishment cannot be carried out. I know that is at least one of the necessary steps that we have to go through to which we are committed before hanging can take place," the Cabinet Secretary explained. Justice Winston Moore on Thursday extended the stay of execution for convicted murderers, Abdool Saleem Yassin and Noel Thomas until the hearing and determination of their summons. Yassin and Thomas were sentenced to death for the 1987 killing of Abdool Kaleem Yassin, the younger brother of the first named convict. The victim was shot dead in his Riverstown, Essequibo Coast home because of a dispute over inheritance from their father. (Michelle Elphage)
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