Former PM killers barred from memorial service
Published:Tuesday | October 19, 2010 | 4:32 PM
Twenty seven years after murdering left wing Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other members of his cabinet, the 17 convicted persons were today barred from attending a memorial service to honour those killed.
Among those prevented from attending the service were former deputy prime minister Bernard Coard, the former general of the People’s Revolutionary Army (PRG) Hudson Austin and the ex-mobilisation minister Selwyn Starchan.
The three were among the group of men released by the High Court last year after serving 26 years of the life imprisonment that had been imposed on them.
The October Nineteenth Martyrs’ Foundation, the organisation spearheading the annual event, says those convicted of slaying Bishop and his ministers were not welcome since many affected families had not forgiven them.
Bishop and several members of his cabinet were lined up against a wall and executed by PRG soldiers at the height of a power struggle between himself and Coard in October 1983.
The events of October 19 led to the eventual military invasion of the Spice Isle by American and Caribbean forces on October 25.