THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WOULD like to take this opportunity to respond to your editorial of 15th March, entitled 'Amnesty's Intrusion'.
In compiling its report analysing the investigation into the Braeton killings, Amnesty International (AI) did not rely "on investigations by foreign policemen checking the scene two years later". The report was compiled over a two-year period and contains expert opinions from a number of professionals working in the areas of pathology, firearms, crime investigation, ballistics and close-quarter exchanges of gunfire.
It is based primarily on the statements of police officers and on undisputed information from the house in question, such as the number and position of the bullet holes in the building.
Amnesty International has not presented 'new evidence' as claimed by the Attorney-General on 14th March. On Tuesday 11th March, AI took firearms technician Jon Vogel to the house at Braeton. There Mr. Vogel discovered 8 fragments (some almost whole) of bullets and a 9mm bullet casing. These finds have been handed over to a legal representative of the families of the young men killed in the house. Mr. Vogel also found a series of holes in the ground, which are almost perfectly circular and measure approximately 9mm in diameter. These holes were in the rear bedroom where large deposits of blood were observed after the men were killed. It should be noted that police statements did not speak of anyone being killed in this room.
Mr. Vogel also noted that four of the holes appear to correspond with the pattern of 9mm gunshot wounds in the head of Andre Virgo, as documented in the State autopsy report.
There is a strong possibility that these discoveries relate to the killing of the Braeton 7. However, a full and thorough investigation of the holes and bullet fragments (to ascertain whether they were fired by the officers' guns and have DNA material from the dead, etc.) would be needed before such a conclusion could be reached.
On Wednesday 12th March the AI delegation met with the Ministers of National Security and Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General and informed them of this information and how it could relate to the Braeton incident. Apart from a lawyer consulted by AI on Tuesday evening the Ministers were the first people to be informed of this information. AI urged the Minister of National Security to ensure that this potential new evidence was preserved and thoroughly evaluated. The Minister requested the organisation to present the information in writing, this request was met. The organisation also informed the Ministers that it would make the information available to the public the following morning. At no time did any of the Ministers present request the information to be kept private.
Regrettably, the authorities appear to have, to date, failed to react to this information in an appropriate manner. The house at Braeton remains unsealed. The government has not requested copies of the photographic evidence taken by Jon Vogel or shown any interest in the bullet fragments. AI fears this is another example of the authorities' unwillingness to adequately investigate the killing of the Braeton 7 and urges that all potential new evidence that has been brought to their attention this week be secured and rigorously examined.
Amnesty International would like to assure your readers that it does not approach the highest elected officials of Jamaica with anything other than respect. It would not be in the organisation's interests, or in the interests of the victims of human rights violations, to take a hostile approach to those it requests to fulfil their international obligations to protect and uphold human rights.
Amnesty International does not and has never claimed to have legal standing. We are not a court. Our role is simply to highlight, publicise and seek to correct failings in judicial or other mechanisms that protect human rights. In this context we have sought to demonstrate how in Braeton and many other cases, the Coroner's Court is in practice a flawed procedure in which the search for truth is compromised by numerous inadequacies.
We agree that "Jamaica no longer needs colonial tutelage". AI is not a neo-colonial organisation; our staff and members come from over 150 countries (including Jamaica), many of which were former colonies themselves. What Jamaica does need is stronger protection of human rights and the eradication of human rights abuses. The human rights to all Jamaicans must be secured.
I am, etc.,
PIERS BANNISTER
Amnesty International
