Negative press will not define SKN, says PM

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas

“Let me say that a number of persons have contacted me to express their displeasure regarding one foreign paper in particular going to great pains to paint a rather strange portrait of this country. There are those organisations internationally that as a matter of principle, oppose the death penalty, whether this penalty is imposed in St. Kitts-Nevis, the United States or anywhere else in the world; they just simply oppose.

“At the same time there are those who believe that individuals who take another person’s life must be permanently prevented from ever taking anybody’s life in the future,” Douglas said this morning (Jan. 13) on his weekly radio programme.

At the time the Prime Minister was addressing a contentious article published in the UK’s The Daily Mail written by David Jones that defined St. Kitts-Nevis as “the murder capital of the world” and put particular emphasis on the hanging of Charles Elroy Laplace to characterize the people of the Federation. Jones described the hanging as a “most unmerciful execution” and wrote that top government officials had ignored “a clamour of protest led by Amnesty International and other human rights organisations”.

“They are dusting down gallows that have stood idle for decades, ready to resume hanging on a scale not seen since the most draconian days of British rule,” the article claimed.

“[The article was] trying to pass negative comments on our system of justice and how we live. They are trying to use the December 2008 execution as some sort of conventional backdrop to define who we are as a people,” the PM said. ~~Adz:Right~~

He also addressed Jones’ reference to an alleged celebratory mood in the country following the execution adding that prison guards sang and drank rum to mark the event.

“Executions are never supposed to be something that one celebrates no matter how many individuals or organizations can defend this act. Executions are serious; they are sober acts and should be treated as such and that is exactly how this was treated here in St. Kitts and Nevis last month -sober, reflective, serious.”

Douglas asserted that the January 10 “sensational submission to a sensationalist tabloid” could not dictate how the people of St. Kitts-Nevis are viewed, despite it being circulated to over two million people on its date of publication.

“That tabloid cannot define us as a people. We in St. Kitts-Nevis have accomplished a great deal, as did those who came before us. Let us bear that in mind as we continue to calmly move our great country forward…and [that paper] does not have the power to determine who we are and what we are.”

The local response to the article and Amnesty International’s condemnation of Laplace’s hanging has been considerable, with many individuals calling for the executions of other death row inmates to be expedited.

“St. Kitts-Nevis is a country of laws with an independent judiciary. The laws of St. Kitts and Nevis allow for hangings but at the same time persons sentenced to hang have the right to appeal their convictions. If their conviction is upheld however then the Law must be enforced and it is enforced after the necessary constitutional processes had been followed. It is not simple; it is not straightforward. It is complex, it involves time and it involves quite a bit of soul-searching. I think we need to appreciate how the system works in the sense that the judiciary is independent of the other arms of government including the executive.”

The Prime Minister had previously stated that condemnation of Laplace’s hanging would have no effect as a deterrent to the hanging of other death row inmates. There are currently eight individuals on Death Row at Her Majesty’s Prison.