Grenada government praised for prisoner\'s release
Published:Monday | September 7, 2009 | 6:10 PM
A Trinidad and Tobago defence lawyer has praised the Grenada government for not seeking to prevent the release of seven persons convicted of murdering former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, in 1983.
Attorney Keith Scotland, who spearheaded the legal battle that resulted in the release of the so-called “Grenada 17” over the last two years, said he was grateful that Prime Minister Tillman Thomas allowed the law to take its course.
Scotland was among persons at the Richmond Hill prison on Saturday when the prisoners, including Bernard Coard were released.
Coard is the former deputy prime minister of the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG).
The PRG gained power in 1979 after it ousted then Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy, in the first successful coup in the English speaking Caribbean.
The left wing government that had close ties with Cuba was split along ideological lines and Bishop and several members of the government were placed under house arrest and later shot and killed.