PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former attorney general Ramesh Maharaj will on Monday address a protest rally outside the United Nations in New York, organised by a local pressure group to highlight concerns about the controversy involving Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma.
Representatives of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and other groups will seek to draw attention to the developments in Trinidad, which see the chief justice being accused of attempting to pervert the course of public justice.
The group has alleged that the government is impeding the independent functioning of the judiciary and constitutional rule following accusations from Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls that Sharma sought to sway his decision in a recent case involving former prime minister Basdeo Panday.
GOPIO warned that the pattern in this “imbroglio” might be followed by other Caribbean governments.
The organisers will lodge a petition and a formal report on their concerns about the alleged abuse of law in Trinidad, with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the UN Secretary General, and the Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists.
In recent weeks the police have been prevented from arresting Sharma by a High Court injunction. On Friday, however, President George Maxwell relieved the chief justice of his duties until the legal matters pertaining to his case have been settled.
Justice Hamel Smith is now acting chief justice.