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  • 10 months ago
A second challenge to a State of Emergency regulation has been brought against the Office of the Attorney General and National Security Minister, this time, with respect to the gun amnesty provision, and Attorney Gerald Ramdeen says, more challenges may be pending if decisive action is not taken. Rynessa Cutting has more.
Transcript
00:00It's week two of the state of emergency and just as many legal challenges have
00:04already been brought against the SOE regulations. This time, Attorney Gerald
00:10Ramdeen is challenging the constitutionality of the gun amnesty
00:14provision. Under the Constitution, the only body that has the
00:19authority to grant an immunity is the Director of Public Prosecution. Under
00:25Section 90 of the Constitution. Section 90 of the Constitution by virtue of
00:30Section 54 of the Constitution is one of those heavily entrenched sections of the
00:36Constitution meaning that you need a two-thirds majority in both houses of
00:39Parliament. Ramdeen is making it clear that he is not against a gun amnesty but
00:44neither is he in support. It is a dangerous proposition to inform the
00:51public and plant the seed of an expectation that if you have an illegal
00:56firearm and you have illegal explosives or you have illegal ammunition in your
01:00possession and you come forward and deliver it voluntarily to the
01:05authorities that you will be granted an immunity from prosecution and it is a
01:10very dangerous and risky proposition that one, somebody can accept that
01:18expectation, act on the expectation, deliver up their firearm and then be
01:24faced with prosecution. As a matter of law, all I was concerned about is the
01:29legality of it. Regulation 11 is but one of the regulations deemed unlawful and
01:34unconstitutional in Ramdeen's legal estimation. The regulation that provides
01:39an immunity to people who act during the state of emergency, that is the public
01:44authorities, the police, the regiment, that gives them the immunity from suit
01:49meaning not to be sued. I think that is unlawful. The regulation that denies bail
01:54and denies any detainee the opportunity to get to go to court and
02:00seek a writ of habeas corpus, I think that is absolutely unlawful. He notes
02:04that taxpayers had to foot a hefty legal bill following the 2011 SOE for some of
02:11these very said reasons. Ramdeen says the Attorney General has responded
02:15positively to his pre-action protocol letter. The response of the Attorney
02:21General was to confirm that regulation 11 is not yet in effect, will not be in
02:30effect until he provides a substantive response to my pre-action letter. He gave
02:34an undertaking that they will not trigger the provision while they are
02:37seeking advice because he said that the pre-action letter was to use his
02:44description was very helpful. Ramdeen says he's hopeful that the Attorney
02:48General will consider the regulations as a whole and make the necessary
02:52adjustments. TV6 News has reached out to the office of the Attorney General for
02:57a response. The regulation dealing with the immunity from suit and the
03:02regulation dealing with the denial of bail and the denial of habeas corpus
03:08if that is not looked at by the time that he replies to me as promised within
03:14seven days, yes, you can expect definitely that there will be a
03:17challenge to those as well. Renassa Cutting, TV6 News.
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