The State has discontinued a charge of alleged “incitement” against medical doctor Samuel “Sam” Joseph Christian.
The incident dates back to November 26, 2015, and Dr. Christian was arrested and charged in 2017, with incitement to arson.
According to the complaint, Dr. Christian “unlawfully incited to burn down the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Dominica” at a public meeting held at Peebles Park in 2015.
The complaint said he stated, “You must stand strong and stand with dignity for the Dominican people. We must stand with dignity. Don’t take any kind of crap from the Speaker of the House. We know that this Parliament was burnt down before and if the Parliament continues to operate this way ladies and gentlemen it will be burnt down again by the people of Dominica. We have to stand strong. When duty calls for danger be never lacking near. Ladies and gentlemen today is the day we have to stand up, we have to stand up for our freedom. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to stop the rot right now. Stand up, stand up Dominica.”
When the matter came up before magistrate Michael Laudat on July 16, 2024, Trinidadian lawyer Keith Scotland SC and State attorney Marie-Louise Pierre Louis who appeared for the State, informed the court that “a notice of discontinuance was filed in the matter.”
“Having had the FIAT to prosecute the matter and considering the contents of the alleged statement made and after consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a decision was taken to discontinue the matter which was also of public interest,” Senior Counsel Scotland told the court.
He continued, “The statement, taken as a whole and when juxtaposed in the context of freedom of expression, fairness, and antiquity of the matter, it has been decided to have it discontinued.”
He told the court, that the prosecution in Dominica, will continue to “be fair in all matters.”
Dr. Christian was absent when the matter came up for hearing. After hearing from Keith Scotland SC the magistrate said the court had “no choice but to discontinue the matter as requested by the DPP.”