Incitement case against medical doctor in Dominica discontinued

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – A magistrate court Tuesday freed a United States-based medical practitioner, Dr Samuel Joseph Christian, of incitement to burn down the Parliament of Dominica after the prosecution said that it was no longer continuing with the matter.

“Having had the fiat to prosecute the matter and considering the contents of the alleged statement made and after consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a decision was taken to discontinue the matter which was also of public interest,” the Trinidad-based Senior Counsel Keith Scotland told the court.

He told magistrate Michael Laudat that 'the statement, taken as a whole and when juxtaposed in the context of freedom of expression, fairness, and antiquity of the matter, it has been decided to have it discontinued.”

Christian was arrested and charged in 2017 following the incident that took place on November 26, 2015.

According to the complaint, Christian “unlawfully incited to burn down the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Dominica” at a public meeting held at Peebles Park in 2015.

The prosecution had alleged that Christian had told the meeting “you must stand strong and stand with dignity for the Dominican people. We must stand with dignity.

“Don't take any kind of crap from the Speaker of the House. We know that this Parliament was burnt down before and if the Parliament continues to operate this way ladies and gentlemen it will be burnt down again by the people of Dominica. We have to stand strong.

“When duty calls for danger be never lacking near. Ladies and gentlemen today is the day we have to stand up, we have to stand up for our freedom. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to stop the rot right now. Stand up, stand up Dominica.”

But Scotland, who appeared with the State attorney, Marie-Louise Pierre Louis, said that “a notice of discontinuance was filed in the matter.”

He told the court that the prosecution in Dominica will continue to “be fair in all matters”.

Christian was not in court when the matter came up for hearing and following Scotland's statement, magistrate Laudat said the court had “no choice but to discontinue the matter as requested by the DPP.”

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