Attorneys representing the commission of enquiry (COE) into the 1990 attempted coup yesterday began prosecuting Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr for refusing to answer its summons to testify before it.
During yesterday’s hearing in the Port-of-Spain Eight Magistrates’ Court, Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar heard evidence from the commission’s sole witness, Cpl Terrance Ramsepaul, who served Bakr with the summons which he is accused of ignoring.
Ramsepaul testified that on September 9, 2013, he visited Bakr’s home at Queen’s Park West, Port-of-Spain, and hand delivered the document requesting his attendance at a hearing scheduled for two weeks later.
Ayers-Caesar then adjourned the case to February 15, when Bakr’s lawyer, Criston J Williams, will be allowed to cross examine Ramsepaul before the COE closes its case.
Bakr will then be given an opportunity to call witnesses or to testify in his defence. The COE is being represented by Senior Counsel Israel Kahn and attorney Larry Lalla.
The COE’s secretary filed the private complaint against Bakr after he failed to attend.
Bakr had previously refused to appear before the commission on August 29, 2012, with his lawyers claiming his testimony had the potential to prejudice his then ongoing trial for sedition, which eventually ended in a hung jury and a retrial being ordered.
On the first occasion, the commission referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, who took the position that he would not lay charges against Bakr for failing to answer a summons.
Gaspard had advised that the commission file the complaint under Section 12 and 16 of the Commission of Enquiry Act, a suggestion which was accepted on the second occasion. If convicted of the complaint Bakr is liable to a $2,000 fine.
However, he can no longer be served with another summons as the Sir David Simmons-chaired commission has completed its evidential hearings and have since published its report.
On July 27, 1990, Bakr led 114 members of his organisation in a co-ordinated attacks on the Parliament and the Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) station in his attempt to overthrow the then ruling NAR administration during which 24 people were killed. Six days later Bakr and his insurgents surrendered.
They were tried for treason but the Court of Appeal upheld the amnesty offered to secure their surrender. The Privy Council later invalidated the amnesty but Bakr and his followers were not rearrested.