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  • 2 years ago
Blogger Christopher Hughes, better known as Chris Must List, has been charged with sedition, after being arrested on Tuesday. His family subsequently posted to Youtube, claiming that he is being held illegally and also called for protest in front of the police station. As Rynessa Cutting tells us, fellow Youtubers are also weighing in.
Transcript
00:00 Two days after his arrest by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,
00:05 Christopher Hughes, better known as Chris Mustelist, has been charged with sedition.
00:10 The charge was laid by the Special Investigations Unit and states that on May 9th,
00:16 Hughes published a seditious publication via YouTube, the social media platform.
00:21 Hours after the charge was laid, his family made a post to his YouTube channel
00:25 with a sign saying "Help" and calling for people to protest in front of the police station.
00:31 The post also contains a petition calling for his release.
00:35 As at 4pm today, the petition had just over 150 signatures.
00:40 Multiple people from around the world have since commented under the post,
00:44 condemning the actions of the police.
00:47 However, one user said, "I always feared this day would come.
00:51 It is so easy for a foreigner to get caught in a situation like this because of anti-gang laws.
00:57 I think Chris's intentions are good, but his ignorance of the law has cost him his freedom."
01:03 The popular YouTube vlogger was arrested after posting several videos
01:07 showing him interacting with people, some with firearms in their possession.
01:12 Some of the people also claimed to be resisting the system.
01:16 Since news of his arrest and charges broke,
01:19 fellow YouTubers have also taken to the platform in his support.
01:22 David Spinhare, who has over 1 million followers,
01:25 uploaded a video to the app entitled "Arrested in Trinidad, My Friend, YouTuber Chris Must List Is In Danger"
01:33 in which he advocates for freedom of speech.
01:36 I hope this can be resolved as fast as possible.
01:40 Since five years, after five years in prison, $25,000.
01:43 I'm making this video to give public awareness to the situation.
01:47 If this happened to me, I hope somebody would stand up for me.
01:50 As YouTubers traveling around the world,
01:53 where's the line between freedom of speech and what we're doing to create art and give truth to people?
01:59 I love Trinidad. I eat doubles everywhere I go.
02:03 There's some of the nicest people in the world.
02:05 I hope that Chris gets home to his family in Canada where he belongs.
02:10 I'm praying for you, Chris. Truly am.
02:12 Meantime, YouTuber Check and Effect noted
02:15 that several of the people who had been featured in Chris's videos
02:18 had accused the police of being corrupt.
02:21 A guy holding an assault rifle on a thumbnail and people looking at that.
02:25 I don't want, you know, that's the only thing I disagree with.
02:29 And, you know, everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but I disagree with that part.
02:34 But I don't think there's anything wrong with showing slums as long as you're not, like, heavily promoting it.
02:41 So once I guess the police force or the government scene started watching his videos and it spread like wildfire,
02:49 I believe they probably felt like, yo, this is too much is going on.
02:52 We got to get this guy. We have to get this guy and and detain him, arrest him.
02:59 So if you go on his channel, all his Trinidad videos are deleted.
03:04 In a release dated May 30th, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service says
03:09 Hughes is expected to appear before Port of Spain District Court next week
03:13 after allegedly posting videos featuring persons professing to be gang members,
03:18 advocating criminal activities and using threatening language.
03:22 Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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