– Says unlawfully detained on election fraud allegation
An employee of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) who was illegally detained and charged in relation to investigations into the allegations of electoral fraud committed in the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, has filed a whopping $175 million lawsuit against the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Government of Guyana. Michelle Miller, through her lawyers, is arguing that she was falsely arrested in breach of her constitutional rights.
Miller in her affidavit claims that she was arrested on August 26, 2020 and escorted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, where she was interrogated for approximately 30 minutes in the absence of legal representation even though she on several occasions requested a lawyer. She alleges that police ranks told her, “You do not need a lawyer, you are not charged with anything.”
Miller also mentioned in her affidavit, that she is a “chronic hypertensive patient”, (high blood pressure) and while at CID Headquarters she tested her blood pressure and it recorded a “dangerously high level” of 166/140, whereas the normal range for her age is 120/80, and it was only after multiple pleas by her lawyers, who she eventually retained, that she was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where she was immediately admitted under police guard.
After being discharged from the GPHC on August 30, 2020, Miller said that she was arrested again by the Police and taken to the Brickdam Police Station. While at the Police station, she said, her blood pressure spiked again, and she had to be taken back to the GPHC. She was discharged on September 1, 2020.
Miller intimated that she was again arrested at the Hospital and taken to CID Headquarters on the said day of her discharge, placed to sit on a bench, and questioned by Police ranks, who interrogated her in the absence of her lawyer, despite her request for her lawyer to be there. She added that she was eventually placed on $100,000 bail, and told to return on October 16, 2020.
She said that when she returned to CID Headquarters on October 16, 2020, she was told that a video interview had to be conducted. Again she was made to wait seven hours on a bench with no legal representation. Consequently, Miller is asking the court to make several declarations against Guyana Police Force, these includes: that her constitutional rights, pursuant to Articles 139, 148, 145, 141, 139(3) of the Constitution of Guyana, were breached by the Police Commissioner.
Miller also contends that her diverse rights afforded under Article 11 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Guyana is a signatory, were breached. Moreover, she is seeking interest pursuant to the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act on all awards for damages and such or other orders the court deems just.The validity of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections is a subject of an Elections Petition which seeks to determine allegations of dead and overseas votes among other allegations.
