Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Four Venezuelan men serving a life sentence for one of the largest drug busts in this country’s history are set to each receive $60,000 in compensation after prison authorities failed to conduct period sentence reviews for them.
High Court Judge Westmin James ordered the compensation for Darwin Alcides Gonzalez Morerno, Freddy Antonio Garcia Munoz, Cesar Gregorio Pereira Rodriguez, and Alonzo Enrique Valera as he upheld their claim over breaches of their rights under the Constitution on Monday.
In March 2008, the four men and Trinidadians Victor Sylvester and Shaheed Ali were convicted of trafficking 1,749 kilos of cocaine worth $700 million and possession of seven illegal firearms and 241 rounds of ammunition.
The group was arrested and charged after police and Coast Guard officers found a large haul of firearms and narcotics at a house on Monos Island, off the coast of Chaguaramas, on August 23, 2005.
They were all given life sentences and were ordered not to be released until serving a 30-year minimum prison term for drug trafficking. They also received a 20-year sentence for firearm and ammunition possession, which was ordered to run concurrently with the larger sentence.
While the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal over the convictions, it agreed to reduce the minimum term for drug trafficking to 27 years and three months and the sentence for firearm and ammunition possession to seven years and three months.
In the lawsuit, the men’s lawyers led by Keron Ramkhalwhan claimed that the failure of prison authorities to hold periodic sentence review every four years since their convictions, in accordance with Prison Rules 281 and 282, was unconstitutional.
In deciding the case, Justice James noted that their right to not be deprived of their liberty except by due process under Section 4(a) of the Constitution was not breached as while the reviews are needed for them to be released upon completing the minimum term, their release was not possible before then.
He also pointed out that their only possibility of early release was through a presidential pardon via the Mercy Committee.
Justice James did find that their rights to protection of the law and not to be deprived of procedural provisions to give effect to their rights under Sections 4(b) and 5(2)(h) of the Constitution were breached.
Justice James declined to order that a colleague in the Criminal Division of the Judiciary conduct sentence reviews as he noted that such was only possible upon the completion of the minimum term.
He did order the prison authorities to begin conducting their reviews within three months of his judgment.
“This is, in the court’s view, the appropriate restitution to remedy the wrong done to the claimants,” he said.
Justice James ordered the compensation as he expressed the view that declarations were insufficient to resolve the case.
Stating that the group’s rights have been breached for almost 16 years, Justice James said: “There is a breaking down of the institutions and reliance on the excuse of a backlog of reviews and overwhelmed staff is not acceptable.”
“The Prison Authorities must address the issue or seek legislative change,” he added.
The State was also ordered to pay the group’s legal costs for the lawsuit.
The men were also represented by Shalini Sankar and Annesia Gunness. The Office of the Attorney General was represented by Shalini Singh, Nicol Yee Fung, Avion Romain, Radha Sookdeo, Vincent Jardine, and Anala Mohan.