– after exercising her right to remain silent
Deputy Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Roxanne Myers is being held at the Beterverwagting Police Station for obstruction of justice because she exercised her right to remain silent when questioned at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday morning.
Myers had visited the CID voluntarily after she learned that the police wanted her for questioning in relation to the ongoing investigations of electoral fraud during the 2020 General and Regional Elections. When the Village Voice contacted one of her attorneys, Nigel Hughes, he told the newspaper that he had just finished speaking to his client and she was locked in a cell.
“She was questioned by two officers in a video-recorded interview. The questioning was done in the presence of one of her lawyers and she exercised her right to remain silent and they then left and came back and said that they were arresting her for obstruction of justice,” Hughes said.
“We’ve asked for bail but we have not been advised by the police, despite our request, as to whether she will be placed on bail.”
Myers joins the list of staff of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that have been pursued by law enforcement since the declaration of the 2020 Elections in the favour of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
The party has vowed to go after those who they believe have played a role in electoral fraud although evidence has been slow with the case against the CEO, Keith Lowenfield, being postponed after the representative from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), failed to appear in court in September.
This comes after the prosecutors had asked the court for more time back in August 2020, to gather more evidence in the private criminal charges. The DPP has since taken over the criminal charges filed against the CEO, Returning Officer of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, and former Health Minister and Chairperson of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), Volda Lawrence, in relation to the elections.
Hughes said that if the police have reasonable suspicion to keep Myers then they can do so for only 72 hours before charging her but, in this case, the extended period is unnecessary.
The Attorney explained: “They law allows, if they have reasonable suspicion, to keep her for 72 hours but the offense for which they arrested her, which is obstruction of justice because she didn’t answer questions, does not require them to keep her any longer. She should be brought before the Court if they think they have enough evidence on that charge which I would expect to be by tomorrow morning…they don’t need to interview any other witnesses, they have all the witnesses and therefore they don’t need to keep her for an extended period, they should file the charge if they intend to charge her by tomorrow, for obstruction.”
Since the elections, in less than a month, the police arrested GECOM Assistants, Carolyn Mikhaik Duncan, Sheffern February, and Michelle Miller as well as supervisor during the national recount, Enrique Livan. These are apart from the Lowenfield, Mingo, and Lawrence.
