Dominica court rules that case against Prime Minister Skerrit should move forward
The Dominican.net Newsdesk
A high court judge in Roseau has ruled that a case brought by the United Workers Party (UWP) against Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and education minister Peter St Jean challenging their legitimacy to serve as parliamentarians should proceed to trial.
The judge however struck down all the other petitions surrounding the conduct of the last elections including charges of bribery and denying access to DBS radio, which was brought by the UWP.
Following the December 19, 2009 general election in which the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) won 18 of the 21 seats in Parliament, the opposition UWP filed several lawsuits in the local courts.
Attorneys for the DLP immediately filed to have the suits thrown out before receiving a hearing in court. In his ruling, the judge determined that there was sufficient evidence to take forward a case involving dual citizenship of Prime Minister Skerrit and Honorable Peter St Jean.
The UWP lawsuits allege that Prime Minister Skerrit received a French passport after the age of 21, which under the laws of Dominica should have prevented him from contesting the elections in Dominica.
Similarly, St Jean is accused of holding both United States and Dominica passports and the suit alleges that he should have been barred from contesting the elections.
On the other petitions brought before the court including that of bribery, the judge was critical of the lawyers for not presenting enough evidence to support the case. He likened the petitions to a ‘fishing expedition’.
For his part, Ron Green who was opposition leader at the time of the elections said he was “very disappointed” with the judges’ ruling. He went on to say that there may have been some weaknesses to the way in which the case was presented.
Attorney for the UWP Joffrey Letang said that the lawyers were considering whether to appeal the judges’ ruling.
