ROSEAU, Dominica, Feb 28, CMC – A High Court judge Friday dismissed charges of incitement against three opposition persons, including former prime minister, Edison James, saying that the Dominica constitution provides for “the right to a fair trial in reasonable time”.
Justice Collin Williams in dismissing the case against James, the leader of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Dr. Thomson Fontaine, and his predecessor, Lennox Linton, also noted that “the length of time between the charge and hearing was unjustified.
The judge said that “justice delayed is justice denied,” and that trials should be heard within one year for indictable matters, and in the case of a preliminary inquiry, the timeline must not exceed six months as in this matter”.
” I am satisfied that the constitutional right to a fair trial within a reasonable time was infringed,” Justice Williams said, adding that “the delays in this case were unjustified.
“The court finds that the matter must be permanently stayed,” Justice Williams added.
The three were charged following a meeting of the UWP on February 7, 2017, where they were alleged to have been involved in incitement by encouraging, persuading, or instigating by words, causing persons to jeopardize safety or endanger public peace.
During the meeting calls were made for the resignation of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and following the public meeting people took to the streets, confronting law enforcement officials with rocks and bottles, breaking store windows, and causing looting.
Skerrit and the Minister for National Security, Rayburn Blackmore described the event as “an attack on the state and democracy and pointed an accusing finger at the UWP.”
“I am measured with my approach in life. But let it be known that there should be no actions on the part of individuals in Dominica to overthrow this government. So if that is their intention, I am sending a message to them, they better rethink their plans,” Skerrit said following the events.
As they emerged from the High Court building, James, 81, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 2000, told reporters that the charge could follow calls by the opposition for electoral reform in the country.
“The origin of this thing has to do with electoral reform and the efforts by our party to ensure that there is proper electoral reform,” James said, adding, “We said elections have consequences .. they know that and that is why they are so adamant to prevent us and the country from having a proper electoral process.
“They were prepared to put us in jail for seven to 10 years so that we do not advocate on this important matter,” he said.
In February last year, James was placed in a holding cell as he was being committed to stand trial on the incitement charge.
James, who thanked his attorneys for working “so diligently on our behalf” said as far as he is concerned the matter is not over “because remember I was put in the cell…I have instituted legal action against (Michael) Laudat (the magistrate)”.
“We were in the court on Monday and we have been asked to go to mediation, we will be doing that and if it doesn’t succeed we will head to the court for the matter to be heard.
I intend to pursue this to the fullest because this is all part of the victimization and I am determined at 81 not to let this government at all have their way in terms of injustice to the people of Dominica, “ James told reporters.
Fontaine, a former official with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), praised God for the ruling as well as his lawyers “who did an excellent, excellent job in defending our cause.
“Justice for us meant eight years …eight years of suffering the indignity of this government that went on a political vendetta to destroy the leadership of the UWP (and) that is what this was all about”.
He said he was thankful that the third branch of government, the judiciary “saw through the attempts of this government to destroy us as the next government in waiting and today the judge ruled that there can be no further issues…
“The case has been quashed completely, not only at the High Court, but at the Magistrate Court and now we can say thank God for what happened today for the impartiality of the judiciary
“This was never a legal issue, this was always a political issue and today we have been vindicated,” said Fontaine, adding that “with your support, we will ensure that the (ruling) Dominica Labour Party, headed by Roosevelt Skerrit will become a thing of the past and relegated to the dustbin of history”.
Fontaine said that he would be seeking legal address for the eight years the matter had been before the courts, adding “it has cost me personally hundreds of thousands of dollars…
Linton, who is the UWP president, said that today is an important day for justice in Dominica, adding “This case against us … has severely poisoned the streams of justice in Dominica with bogus charges against us”.
Linton said that the case was a “concoction” and had been dragged out “only to embarrass us and … to destroy the leadership of the UWP”.
Linton, who is also seeking legal redress, said that the state had paid “millions of dollars” to the prosecuting team from Trinidad and Tobago headed by Israel Khan.
He said that he believed the figure to be in the region of EC$15 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) and that the state has refused to divulge the amount claiming it would be a threat to national security.
“There is going to be further legal action because the state of Dominica has to say something about the injustice that we suffered, the damage to our reputation, and the significant cost we incurred fighting a government that spent millions of dollars of the state money
“At some point in time there is going to have to be an investigation into this matter in the public interest of Dominica,” Linton said, adding “This was purely political”.
CMC cj/ir/2025